Benchmark cotton futures on ICE gained on Thursday, buoyed by better-than-expected export sales data and technical support. Weekly US exports for the current crop year that runs through end-July jumped nearly 70 percent week over week, government data showed on Thursday. "Sales were a little better than expected, as prices hit lows," said Sharon Johnson, a senior cotton specialist at Wedbush Securities in Atlanta. Gains were capped as shipment levels and sales against the upcoming 2015/16 crop disappointed.
Prices recovered after slipping past chart support near 65 cents a lb, hovering above Wednesday's three-week low of 64.60 cents. The December cotton contracts on ICE Futures US settled up by 0.37 cent, a 0.6 percent gain, to 65.24 cents per pound. The cash to second-month spread gained 0.26 cent to 0.28 cents per pound. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of July 15 totalled 139,045 480-lb bales, down from 142,630 in the previous session. US weekly export sales for the 2014/15 crop totalled 51,200 running bales, up 69 percent from the prior week. Shipments fell 36 percent week-over-week to 136,200 bales.
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