New York cotton futures settle lower

Cotton futures finished slightly easier Monday on sales by small speculators as the market looked toward release of a key government plantings report at the end of this week, analysts said. The New York Board of Trade's key December cotton contract shed 0.18 cent to settle at 60.79 cents per lb, in a band from 60.45 to 61.10 cents.
The back months ranged from 0.44 cent lower to 0.35 cent higher. IntercontinentalExchange's NYBOT electronic cotton market showed the December contract down 0.07 cent to 60.90 cents at 2:32 pm EDT (1832 GMT). "We're obviously waiting on the acreage numbers on Friday," said Keith Brown, president of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia, in alluding to the annual plantings report of the US Agriculture Department on June 29.
He said attempts by speculators to nudge the market lower have run into solid support so the result of Monday's dealings were that fibre contracts were just within a few points of unchanged.
"The market's maintaining its composure," said Brown. First notice day for deliveries in the July contract proceeded in an orderly manner. Open interest in July dropped 2,988 lots to 2,096 lots as of June 22. A total of 1,293 lots were posted for delivery. The main issuer is Term Commodities with 1,270 lots and the top stopper is J.P. Morgan Futures with 962 and Dunavant Commodities with 205 contracts.
Traders said dealings in the market should pick up once the USDA report is out of the way. "Once the number goes out, we will have a good idea what kind of cotton crop we will have in the United States," one said. Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the December contract at 62 and 62.75 cents, with support at 59.80 and 58.75 cents.
Floor dealers said final estimated open-outcry volume stood at 5,300 lots, from the prior volume of 8,389 lots. Screen trade Friday was at 9,078 lots, NYBOT said. Open interest was at 203,751 lots as of June 22, down 2,198 lots from the previous session.