Cotton futures rose to their highest in more than a week on Monday on broad strength across commodities markets, recovering after a speculator sell-off sent prices of the fibre to over 6-1/2-year lows last week. Commodity prices gained on Monday after a flurry of reassurances from Chinese leaders that the economy of the leading consumer would remain on sound footing.
The Chinese stimulus plan "aided the bullishness" in the commodities market, pushing up cotton prices, said Chris Kramedjian, a risk management consultant with INTL FCStone in Nashville, Tennessee. Last week, prices hit 54.53 cents, their lowest since June 2009, amid concerns over demand for cotton and the release of a massive stockpile held by China.
The May contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.27 cent, or 0.47 percent, at 57.38 cents per lb, after climbing as high as 57.9 cents. The dollar index was down 0.21 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 1.87 percent. Total futures market volume rose by 9,483 to 28,308 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 183 to 207,341 contracts in the previous session.