Renewed noncommercial buying sparked a solid rally in the new-crop cotton market Wednesday.

New-crop cotton rallied more than 1.00 cent per pound Wednesday, supported by renewed noncommercial buying interest tied to the weaker US dollar index. Commodities in general were able to gain bullish momentum despite low volume, pre-holiday trade with crude oil leading the way. The December cotton contract posted its highest daily close (85.74) since June 19.

Futures market bulls might be concerned over the lack of commercial interest, indicated by the weakening inverse in the futures spreads, but again pre-holiday activity was light and most commercial traders seemed to go home early.

The market will re-open Friday with the December contract continuing to trade above secondary (intermediate-term) price support at 83.04.