NY cotton ends near 3-year low, mills trim losses

NY cotton ends near 3-year low, mills trim losses

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* Mill fixations at the lows pares market losses
* Poor economic outlook to weigh on cotton

June 4 (Reuters) - Cotton futures ended Monday near a 3-year
low for the second session running on investor sales, but the
market trimmed its losses on consumer buying and signs that it
was heavily oversold and due for a recovery, brokers said.
"Nobody's got any confidence in the market," said Mike
Stevens, an independent cotton analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana.
The euro gained as investors speculated that new action may
be in the works to address the debt crisis and keep Greece from
leaving the euro zone.
The now benchmark December cotton contract on ICE
Futures U.S. fell 0.55 cent, or 0.8 percent, to close at 67.06
cents per lb, dealing between 64.61 and 67.95 cents.
It was the lowest close for the third position cotton
contract since early October 2009, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Spot July cotton eased 0.06 cent to finish at 68.53
cents a lb, moving from 66.10 to 69.06 cents.
The 14-day relative strength index reading of the cotton
market stood around 21, from the previous reading of 22. A
reading of 30 or lower means the market is oversold and one of
70 or above indicates a market is overbought.
"We had fallen so far so fast we should be entitled to a
small bounce," Stevens said.
Analysts said that at the day's low, cotton futures derived
some support from possible mill buying in the market.
Open interest in the cotton market, an indicator of investor
interest, amounted to 202,864 lots as of June 1, the loftiest
since Feb. 10, 2011, when open interest was at 220,096 lots, the
ICE data showed.
"The rise in open interest as the market is going down shows
investors are adding to short positions in cotton," a dealer
said, adding this means many are expecting cotton prices to
weaken further in the weeks ahead.
Volume on Monday reached almost 36,000 lots, almost 50
percent more than the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.

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