ICE cotton futures fell about one percent after touching a near four-week high earlier in the session, as index funds rolled forward their longs on Monday, weighing on the market. "The rolling of longs forward by index funds commenced on Monday. This provided some selling pressure," said Louis Rose, an independent cotton trader and consultant with Risk Analytics in Memphis.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures US touched a session high of 75.32 cents a lb, the highest since January 5. "With prices touching 75 cents, there is a lot less inclination for mills to either fix on call sales or purchase new cotton," Rose added. Cotton contracts for March settled down 0.71 cent, or 0.95 percent, at 74.14 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 74.06 and 75.32 cents a lb, the highest since January 5. Total futures market volume rose by 4,838 to 28,193 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 4,996 to 272,698 contracts in the previous session.