15:04 EDT - Cotton futures edged higher despite a bearish global supply/ demand picture. "To be honest, it doesn't really make sense to anybody," says INTL FCStone's Andy Ryan. He says that more large sales to China's cotton reserve could be behind the rise. "In that case you wouldn't know about it unless you were the trader who sold them the cotton," he adds. Weekly USDA export sales data will be released Thursday and could shed some light. ICE cotton for Dec delivery settled 0.9% higher at 76.02c/lb.