The market showed muted reaction to a decline in weekly export sales for shipment this season. Cash grower sales declined on The Seam.

Cotton futures traded slightly lower Thursday, showing muted reaction to U.S. weekly export sales data.

Spot March hovered off 37 points to 74.75 cents at 8:05 a.m. CST, trading within a mere 36-point range from 75.03 to 74.67 cents on a contract volume of 1,866 lots. May dipped 30 points to 75.70 cents on a volume of 441 lots.

Net all-cotton export sales for shipment this season dipped to 299,500 running bales during the week ended Dec. 6 from a marketing year high of 443,000 bales the previous week, USDA reported.

Upland net sales of 283,900 bales dropped 32% from the previous week and 24% from the prior four-week average. Gross sales were 313,900 bales and cancellations were 30,000. China booked 136,400 bales or 48%, while 62,700 bales went to Turkey and 20,500 to Bangladesh.

Net sales for delivery in 2013-14 rose to 26,000 running bales from 14,300 the week before. Mexico booked 17,100 bales. Sales for both crop years totaled 325,500 bales, down from 447,600 the previous week.

All-cotton shipments slid to 189,200 bales from 216,800 bales, with upland shipments of 181,700 bales down 14% from the previous week but up 26% from the prior-four-week average.

In outside markets, Dow Jones futures edged up 15 points and S&P futures up 0.10, while dollar index futures traded up 0.065 to 79.875, crude oil dropped 36 cents to $86.41, Brent crude fell 46 cents to $109.04, and gold fell $22.50 to $1,694.10. Corn traded lower and soybeans and wheat higher.

ChinaΆs Zhengzhou cotton futures settled unchanged to up 85 yuan or 0.44%, with January up 5 yuan or 0.03% and most-active May up 50 yuan or 0.27%.

In the U.S. market Wednesday, March settled with a slight gain at its highest finish since Oct. 22 on follow-through buying from the strong finish the prior day. Key resistance looms at the Oct. 17 high at 76.39 and the Sept. 4 high at 78. A close above 78 would suggest a major trend change, a technician said. Some support points are 74.53, 72.43, 71.47 and 71.28.

The March-May spread traded between premiums on May of 91 and 75 points and narrowed a point on a close at 88 points on a volume of 1,793 lots. May-July traded between premiums on July of 62 and 85 points and narrowed seven points to settle at 77 on a volume of 585 lots, while July-December narrowed five points on a settlement difference of 145 points.

In cash trading, grower-to-business sales slowed to 24,333 bales on The Seam from a marketing year high of 58,265 bales on Tuesday. Prices slipped to an average of 68.59 cents from 69.35 cents, reflecting a dip to 16.10 cents from 16.22 cents in premiums over loan repayment rates.

Business-to-business sales slumped to 54 bales from 1,597 bales on prices averaging 65.85 cents, down from 70.80 cents, and premiums of 15.72 cents, down from 18.49 cents.

The grower sales included 16,252 bales of staples 35 or more and 8,081 bales of staples 34 or less, while all the business sales stapled 34 or less.

Growers sold 77 bales from the Mid-South, 2,001 bales from the Southeast and 22,255 bales from the Southwest. All the business sales were from the Southwest.