NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Cotton prices were little changed Monday as buying from
textile mills erased most early spillover losses.
Nearby May cotton traded on ICE Futures U.S. settled down 0.16 cent, or 0.2%,
at 79.85 cents a pound. The most-active July contract settled up 0.01 cent, or
0.01%, at 81.60 cents.
"We're weaker following these other commodities with the fallout from Goldman
still having a negative effect on the market [and] the stronger dollar sending
commodities a little bit lower," said Andy Ryan, risk-management consultant at
FCStone in Nashville.
Chicago Board of Trade grains, as well as crude oil, gold and copper,
maintained early losses as the dollar climbed in safe-haven buying. Nervousness
about fraud charges against brokerage giant Goldman Sachs carried over from
last week and stunted risk appetite Monday.
Cotton benefited from a late rise in equities prices, said Sterling Smith,
market analyst at Country Hedging in St. Paul, Minn.
Otherwise, July cotton consolidated quietly within the range of 79.50 cents
to 84 cents at which it has traded since March 1, Smith said.
Cotton has held in that range as the market plateaus after prices doubled in
the last year. The rally kicked off amid expectations that demand would surpass
production by 14% in the crop year through July 31.
But now traders are looking toward the upcoming season as plantings for that
crop begin. Conditions have been favorable in the early season. The U.S. is
expected to plant 15% more cotton in 2010 than the year before due to favorable
prices.
ICE daily cotton stocks increased by 5,885 500-pound bales Friday to total
905,222 bales with 62,523 bales awaiting review, according to exchange data.
ICE cotton open interest--the number of active positions left at the end of
the session--decreased by 4,548 positions Friday to total 185,369, according to
the exchange.
Volume was estimated at 23,835 lots. In options, approximately 6,942 calls
and 2,955 puts traded on the floor, according to exchange data.
Close Change Range
May 79.85 -16 pts 79.06-80.06
Jly 81.60 + 1 pt 80.52-81.78
Dec 75.93 - 1 pt 75.25-76.00