NEW YORK: Cotton futures rose on Wednesday as the US dollar eased and global equities gained on increasing optimism about a Covid-19 vaccine, countering pressures from coronavirus-induced demand concerns.

The cotton contract for March rose 0.50 cent, or 0.7%, to 71.80 cents per lb by 12:08 p.m. ET (1708 GMT). It traded within a range of 71.11 and 71.95 cents a lb.

“It is just a little bit of a carryover from the broader markets. We are seeing that the dollar index is down ... while the stock market is up,” said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate with StoneX Group.

World equity markets gained and were just shy of a record, while the dollar index touched a more than one-week low after Pfizer Inc said its Covid-19 vaccine was 95% effective and it would apply for emergency US authorization within days.

Total futures market volume fell by 17,745 to 16,658 lots.

Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Nov. 17 totaled 113,573 480-lb bales, up from 107,126 in the previous session.—Reuters