REUTERS: Cotton gains as dollar eases, supply risks linger
REUTERS: Cotton gains as dollar eases, supply risks linger

REUTERS: Cotton gains as dollar eases, supply risks linger

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ICE cotton futures rose on Friday as a rally in the dollar cooled and on some concerns over supply from key U.S. growing regions, but were still bound for their first weekly dip in three.

* Cotton contracts for December (CTZ3) rose 1.09 cents, or 1.3%, to 86.47 cents per lb by 11:37 a.m EDT (15:37 GMT).

* The dollar was slightly lower at about 0.1%, making cotton less expensive for holders of other currencies.

* But overall strength in the dollar, which was bound for its longest weekly winning streak since 2014, along with concerns over demand from top buyer China put the December contract on track for its first weekly decline in three weeks, down about 4.1% so far.

* "The US dollar being just slightly weaker and the fact that you have people talking about more supply issues, whether it's warranted or not," are helping prices of the natural fiber, said Louis Barbera, partner and analyst at VLM Commodities.

* However, "prices going higher will not help (cotton sales). We need to go low enough to make ourselves competitive in the world."

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly export sales report showed net sales of 85,100 running bales of cotton for 2023/2024 and exports of 175,400 running bale, primarily to China.

* "We're going to get some rain in Texas next week, which some people are excited about. I'm not that excited about it because I think a lot of the crop there has already suffered damage," said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton.

* Supporting cotton, oil prices hovered above $90 a barrel, making cotton substitute polyester more expensive, with sentiment also getting a fillip from gains in Wall Street.



Source: Reuters

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