May 17 (Reuters) - Cotton prices fell over 1% on Friday, and were headed for their fifth straight weekly fall, with investors concerned about the effects of the China-U.S. trade conflict as the two sides appeared far from reaching a resolution.
- The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., July CTN9
CTc1, fell 0.96 cent, or 1.44%, at 65.84 cents per lb at 2:19 pm EDT (1819 GMT). - It traded within a range of 65.83 and 66.80 cents a lb.
- The July contract CTN9 was down about 3.8% so far this week,
and was on track for its fifth consecutive weekly decline. - "The trade dispute between United States and China is a wet
blanket on all of our contracts right now," said Barry Bean, a cotton buyer based in Gideon, Missouri. - Following Washington's blacklisting of Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies, Beijing said the United States must show sincerity if it is to hold meaningful trade talks. (Full Story)
- Escalating trade tensions had pushed the contract to its lowest
level in three years earlier in the week. - "The market is consolidating around the 66 to 67 cents range and
is probably establishing a new (trading) range," said Bean, adding there was some profit-taking. - Total futures market volume fell by 2,267 to 21,589 lots. Data
showed total open interest gained 1,434 to 217,265 contracts in the previous session. - Certificated cotton stocks CERT-COT-STX deliverable as of May
16 totaled 81,946 480-lb bales, unchanged from 81,946 in the previous session.
(Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Source: Reuters