Spot May closed at its lowest settlement of the month. U.S. 2016-crop upland loans outstanding declined to 3.956 million RB. Heavy volume of West Texas CCC loan equities traded.

Cotton futures settled lower across the board Tuesday, down 45 to 91 points, in the face of a sharply lower U.S. dollar index.

Spot May settled down 49 points to 76.84 cents, in the lower third of its 80-point range from up 15 points at 77.48 to down 65 points at 76.68 cents. May broke through support marked by last TuesdayΆs low of 76.80, falling to a 12-session low, and closed just above that technical point at its lowest finish of the month.

July dipped 45 points to close at 78.09 cents, trading within a 71-point range from 78.70 to 77.99 cents. December snapped a string of five higher closes in a row, settling down 79 points to 74.88 cents, just off the low of its 80-point range from 75.62 to 74.82 cents.

With old-crop long liquidation having contributed to putting the market on the defensive coming into the day, that trend appeared to accelerate, and December posted one of its biggest one-day point losses of the year. Mill price fixations offered support.

Noncommercial and non-reportable traders held a near-record combined net long position of 137,637 lots as of March 14, the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.

Volume increased to an estimated 33,313 lots from 24,478 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 11,519 lots or 47%, EFP 71 lots and EFS 40 lots. Options volume rose to 6,461 lots (3,534 calls and 2,927 puts) from 3,538 lots (2,184 calls and 1,354 puts).

In outside markets, U.S. stocks started the day higher but the major indexes headed for one of their steepest declines of the year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 200 points around the time of the cotton close. U.S. dollar index futures traded to a new six-week low.

May corn closed down 0.6% and December corn down 0.4%, while May soybeans gained 0.2% and November soybeans added 0.5%. May Chicago wheat finished down 0.8% and May Kansas City wheat lost 1.6%.

Meanwhile, U.S. 2016-crop upland loans outstanding declined 198,954 running bales to 3.956 million during the week ended March 13, according to the latest USDA figures.

Repayments totaled 231,710 RB and entries were 32,756 RB. Upland cotton under loan included 339,712 RB of Form A issued to individual growers and 3.616 million RB issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents. Also still outstanding were 432 RB of 2015-crop cotton.

A heavy volume of 2016-crop Commodity Credit Corp. loan equities traded last week in West Texas for 17.75 to 19.25 cents and a moderate volume changed hands in Oklahoma for 17.25 to 20 cents, according to USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service.

Futures open interest fell 965 lots Monday to 280,740, with MayΆs down 1,281 lots to 159,013, JulyΆs down 810 lots to 47,859 and DecemberΆs up 1,004 lots to 65,676. Cert stocks were unchanged at 326,221 bales.