Hurricane warning issued for Gulf Coast. Browning or bronzing of foliage, accompanied by premature defoliation, reported on the Texas Plains. U.S. Far East premium narrowed. Mill on-call sales hit another record high.

Cotton futures rallied from a dip below the prior-session low to finish higher for the day and week amid weather jitters Friday.

December settled up 57 points to 68.84 cents, around the upper third of its 139-point range from down 47 points at 67.80 cents to up 92 points at 69.19 cents. It traded on both sides of last week’s range and finished with a slight weekly gain of 39 points.

March closed up 61 points to 68.29 cents, in the upper quarter of its 120-point range from 67.30 to 68.50 cents. It gained 51 points for the week, narrowing the December-March inversion to a 55-point difference.

Volume was estimated at 18,511 lots, compared with 18,153 lots the prior session when spreads totaled 5,941 lots or 33%. Options volume increased to 9,100 lots (4,577 calls and 4,523 puts) from 2,531 lots (1,890 calls and 641 puts).

A hurricane warning issued for a U.S. Gulf Coast area stretching from Grand Isle, La., to the Alabama-Florida border offered support. Tropical Storm Nate, which has battered Central America this week, is expected to strengthen and make landfall east of New Orleans this weekend as a Category 1 hurricane.

Support also may have stemmed partly from reports that many cotton fields in the Texas High and Rolling Plains are showing browning or bronzing foliage, often accompanied by premature defoliation. Extension specialists say several leaf spots, caused by different species of fungi, are commonly associated with the condition.

Meanwhile, unpriced mill on-call sales rose by 2,039 lots to a board total of 136,123 lots (13.612 million bales) last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed after the close Thursday. That marked a new record high for the fifth week in a row.

Producers shaved their unfixed position by 549 lots to 37,150 (3.715 million bales), widening the net call difference by 2,588 lots to a hefty 98,973. The difference represented 42.5% of the declining open interest, up from 39.5% a week earlier.

A year ago, unpriced mill sales were 80,282 lots, the unfixed producer position was 24,961 lots and the net difference totaled 55,321 lots or 22.3% of the open interest.

In December, unpriced positions declined by 990 lots to 28,916 on the mill side last week and by 844 lots to 12,257 on the producer side. This narrowed the net difference to 12,257 lots (1.226 million bales), a virtually unchanged 9.2% of the falling December open interest.

On the competitive-pricing front, the average of the five lowest-priced world growths for the Far East fell 51 points to 77.09 cents during the week ended Thursday, USDA calculations showed, while the lowest-quoted U.S. cotton landed there fell 70 points to 77.80 cents.

The U.S. premium thus narrowed to 71 points from 90 points. Based on the on the USDA figures, the adjusted world price for the marketing week that began Friday is 60.04 cents, leaving the marketing loan gain of course at zero.

The fine count adjustment for qualities better than 31-3-35 is 72 points, up from 62 points. This reflects differences in premiums in the U.S. and international markets.

Futures open interest declined 753 lots to 229,578 on Thursday, with October’s down five lots to 89, December’s down 1,353 lots to 129,165 and March’s up 401 lots to 68,529. Certified stocks grew 727 bales to 5,444.