REUTERS: ICE cotton jumps as low acreage, fresh demand lift prices

REUTERS: ICE cotton jumps as low acreage, fresh demand lift prices

May 8 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures climbed over 3%on Wednesday, aided by expectations of low acreage, while some fresh demand also lent support after prices had fallen to multi-month lows in the previous sessions.

* Cotton contracts for July CTc2 rose 2.4 cents, or 3.1%, to 79.9 cents per lb by 12:36 p.m. ET (1636 GMT).

* Prices are driven by "acreage concerns, plus traders are finding some demand under $0.80," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland.

* Even though Brazil and Australia are tough competitors, it looks like the market found or uncovered some demand when the July contract went under $0.80, Varner added.

* Investors await the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Friday, along with weekly export sales data on Thursday.

"There's an idea that the report this Friday will confirm what I thought was a fairly low planted acreage number, and so some traders are buying the market on lower acreage numbers," Varner said.

* In the financial market, the benchmark S&P 500 was broadly unchanged, pausing after a recent rally as investors assessed the outlook for U.S. monetary policy. .N

* Meanwhile, in other agricultural markets, Chicago wheat fell on forecasts of welcome rain in Russian and U.S. grain belts, while Russian wheat was offered cheapest in a major Egyptian import tender.GRA/

* Elsewhere, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a Weather Watch for Wednesday "due to unseasonably high temperatures, high levels of expected maintenance outages during the spring shoulder months, and the potential for lower reserves."

Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar


Source: Reuters
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