ICE cotton fell Friday on a stronger dollar and weaker grain prices after climbing to a more than five-week high in early trading, but posted its strongest weekly gain in nearly five months because of short-covering and strong export sales. The most active March cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 0.20 cent, or 0.3 percent, to settle at 61.59 cents a lb after rising to 61.98 cents in morning trading, its highest since December 31.
-- Front-month fibre closes week up 3.8pc
The US dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Friday, after data showed that job growth in the United States exceeded economists' expectations, leading to anticipation that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner. A stronger dollar weighs on greenback-traded commodities like cotton by making them more expensive to holders of other currencies. "The dollar is still the thing that is the thorn in just about every commodity's side right now," said Jobe Moss, a broker with MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas.
Moss added that a downturn in soybean and corn prices, which compete with cotton for planting acreage, added to the pressure on fiber. Traders awaited the National Cotton Council's survey showing how many cotton acres US farmers will plant in 2015, due out Saturday. A January Reuters poll showed farmers will plant 9.8 million acres this year in the United States, down 11 percent from last year, which would be the lowest level since 2009. Despite Friday's losses, the front-month contract ended the week up 3.8 percent, its largest weekly gain since the week ended September 12, as investor short-covering and another strong weekly export sales report boosted prices.