ICE cotton futures rose over 1% on Friday on increased demand from speculators following yesterday's strong export sales report, while optimism around a US-China trade deal further supported the market.

Cotton contracts for March rose 0.40 cent, or 0.59%, at 67.98 cents per lb by 1:06 p.m. EST (1806 GMT).

It rose to 68.31 cents earlier the session – a fresh more than six-month high.

The natural fiber has climbed over 2% this week so far and was headed for its fourth straight week of gains.

“Demand has been pretty good as seen in the export sales report yesterday, and that is providing some spillover support. There has been mostly speculative-type buying," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.

On Thursday, the USDA in its weekly export-sales report showed net sales of 249,400 running bales (RB) for the 2019/20 marketing year, down 10% from the previous week but up 5% from the prior four-week average, for the period ended Dec. 12.

On the technical side, “ICE futures should experience resistance near 68.50 – 69 cents and then 70 – 71 cents basis March over the near-to-medium-term," said Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group in a note.

Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Dec. 19 totalled 13,068 480-lb bales, down from 15,855 in the previous session. Total futures market volume fell by 1,502 to 21,643 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,903 to 207,346 contracts in the previous session.