ICE cotton marginally up, registers best week since mid-November

ICE cotton futures edged higher on Friday on investor buying after slipping and the natural fiber recorded its best week since mid-November. "This morning, it seemed that the slight adverse movement in the fundamentals was causing the funds to sell some of their position, but other investors moved in to buy the dip," said Gabriel Crivorot, analyst at Societe Generale in New York. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US has risen about 4.7 percent this week, the biggest climb since the week ended November 18.
The contract had breached the key 75-cent level for the first time since August 9 on Thursday. "Most of the mill fixations are still ahead of us and this could lead to additional spikes over the coming weeks," Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton said in a note. "We expect to see a volatile market over the next four weeks with a price range between 71 and 77 cents, although spikes to higher levels cannot be ruled out," he added.
Export data from the US Department of Agriculture showed net upland sales of 183,700 running bales of cotton for last week, down 47 percent from the previous week. The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.21 cent, or 0.28 percent, at 73.99 cents per lb. It traded within a range between 72.9 and 74.19 cents a lb. Total futures market volume fell by 14,590 to 27,625 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 3,265 to 258,660 contracts in the previous session. Speculators raised their net long position for cotton by 5,573 contracts to 99,820 in the week to January 3, CFTC data showed.