ICE cotton futures hit their lowest levels in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, as weak China manufacturing data revived concerns about growth in the world's No 2 economy and largest consumer of the fibre. "The biggest problem in this market is the demand," said Jobe Moss, a broker with MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas. "The economy is under attack. That's going to keep a cloud over the cotton market."
December cotton on ICE Futures US settled down by 0.3 cent, a 0.5 percent loss, at 62.70 cents per pound, after falling as low as 63.18 cents a pound, its lowest level since August 12. Total futures market volume fell by 1,373 to 16,982 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 97 to 180,189 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of August 31 totalled 67,197 480-lb bales, down from 71,432 in the previous session. The dollar index was down 0.44 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 3.01 percent. The Relative Strength Index in the most-active contract fell to 39.781. ICE cotton futures settled unchanged on Monday, remaining near the bottom of a recent trading range on uncertainty about the US crop and concern about emerging market demand, as traders awaited a new supply and demand report next month.