Cotton gains on technicals, positive trade sentiment
Cotton gains on technicals, positive trade sentiment

Cotton gains on technicals, positive trade sentiment

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July 31 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures rebounded on Wednesday on technical support after falling to a one-week low in the previous session, while negotiations between the United States and China to buy agricultural goods lent further support to prices.

* The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the

second-month December contract , settled up 0.48

cent, or 0.8%, at 63.84 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 63.14 and 63.97 cents a lb.

* The second month contract slipped for a fourth consecutive month, down about 3% in July.

* “We are just trapped in a 63-65 cents range ... Looks like we found some support at 63 cents, with prices unable to break below that. Prices are bouncing back from that level,” said Jim Nunn, owner of Tennessee cotton brokerage Nunn Cotton. Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators discussed the purchase of U.S. agricultural goods during trade talks this week and will meet again in the United States in September, the commerce ministry said.

* The natural fiber has slid by about 13% so far this year owing to a long drawn trade tiff between cotton’s top consumer China and one of the top producers, the United States.

* The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) crop progress report on Monday said 61% of U.S. cotton was in good to excellent condition.

* Given the good crop condition, the USDA might increase the U.S. crop size in the upcoming supply-demand report from the 22 million bales reported earlier, said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.

* Investors are now awaiting the weekly export sales report due on Thursday from the USDA.

* Total futures market volume fell by 955 to 14,061 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 747 to 196,861 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of July 30 totaled 30,522 480-lb bales, unchanged from 30,522 in the previous session.

(Reporting by Asha Sistla in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Source: Reuters

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