Cotton futures rose on Friday on worries that adverse weather could have affected ongoing crop harvest in the United States, with prices also supported by a weaker dollar, even as traders awaited direction from the upcoming US presidential election.
"They've had some rains in Texas plains. They may have had a little hail, so we might have lost some cotton there," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia, adding "but generally speaking, we're waiting on the US presidential election next Tuesday."
The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US was down about 3.23 percent this week, the biggest decline since the week of August 19. "Ahead of the election, nobody wants to come in and sit on any kind of big position," Brown noted. The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.46 cent, or 0.68 percent, at 68.53 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 67.70, their lowest since October 12, and 69.04 cents a lb. The dollar index was down 0.09 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.48 percent.