Unfixed mill and producer positions declined in March and increased in May and July. Outstanding upland loans dipped to 2.174 million bales.

Cotton futures finished lower in tight-range trading Friday, snapping a string of three consecutive higher closes.

Spot March closed down 20 points to 85.83 cents, near the low of its 85-point range from down 33 points at 85.70 cents to up 52 points at 86.55 cents. It narrowed its settlement discount to May to 50 points.

March, which traded inside ThursdayΆs range, lost 138 points for the week but still gained 119 points or 1.4% for the month.

May closed down 54 points for the day to 86.33 cents, July slid 70 points to 85.95 cents and December dipped 20 points to 76.40 cents. For the week, May fell 116 points, July 147 points and December 214 points.

Volume slowed to an estimated 27,600 lots from 30,036 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 17,192 lots or 57% and EFP 93 lots. Options turnover totaled 5,512 calls and 2,234 puts.

Unfixed on-call positions based in March fell 831 lots to 19,569 on the mill side and 56 lots to 5,262 on the producer side last week, according to the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

The net call difference dipped 775 lots to 14,307, which was 13.34% of MarchΆs declining open interest. The unfixed mill position outweighed that of producers by a ratio of 3.72:1, against 3.84:1 a week earlier.

Combined unpriced positions in May-July rose by 3,764 lots to 37,093 on the mill side and by 512 lots to 3,774 on the producer side, widening the net call difference to by 3,252 lots to 33,319 or 52% of the rising open interest in those two contracts.

In December, mills added 348 lots and producers 206 lots, increasing their open positions there to 4,337 lots and 10,997 lots, respectively. Producers also added 357 lots in July 2015.

Meanwhile, U.S. upland loans outstanding declined 31,848 bales during the week ended Tuesday on repayments on 155,359 bales and entries of 123,511 bales, USDA reported.

This left outstanding upland loans of 2,174,472 bales, including 239,434 bales of Form A issued to individual growers and 2,102,503 bales of Form G issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.

An unknown portion of the cotton under loan is committed and awaiting the approach of shipping dates for withdrawal.

Futures open interest fell 1,005 lots Thursday to 182,873, with MarchΆs down 3,864 lots to 95,955 and MayΆs up 2,303 lots to 44,488.

Certificated stocks expanded 11,674 bales to 158,211. The additions included 176 bales at Dallas-Fort Worth, 1,479 bales at Greenville and 10,019 bales at Memphis. Awaiting review were 1,875 bales.

World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index gained 50 points Friday morning to 92.75 cents. The premium to ThursdayΆs March futures close widened two points to 6.72 cents. The index lost 100 points for the week but gained 305 points for the month.