Cotton futures fell for the seventh time in nine sessions on Thursday, by about 1 percent, on speculator selling as US weekly export sales declined. The sell-off followed the market's failure to repeat recent highs, said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia. Export data from the US Department of Agriculture showed net upland sales of 202,300 running bales of cotton for last week, down 21 percent from the previous week.
"The exports today were not bearish but they were really not that supportive," Brown said. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled down 0.68 cent, or 0.95 percent, at 70.9 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 70.75 and 72.13 cents a lb. Total futures market volume rose by 4,800 to 22,185 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,062 to 256,545 contracts in the previous session.