Nearby contracts traded inside prior-day ranges. Traders look ahead to prospective plantings report, end of the month and quarter and weekly export sales-shipments data.
Cotton futures consolidated higher in old-crop contracts and settled little changed in December amid positioning Wednesday ahead of the long-awaited U.S. prospective plantings report from USDA.
Spot May rallied from early losses to close up 49 points to 88.53 cents, near the high of its 153-point range from down 91 points at 87.13 cents to up 62 points at 88.66 cents.
July also touched its high in the late going and settled near there at 89.80 cents, up 47 points, trading from 88.43 to 89.92 cents. Both May and July remained within the prior-session ranges.
The December contract eked out a two-point gain to 87.25 cents, just off the high of its 160-point range from down 153 points at 85.70 — below TuesdayΆs low and a tick above MondayΆs low — to up seven points at 87.30.
Mill fixations helped to undergird the early price retreat, analysts said. May closed back above its 18-day moving average.
Volume slowed to an estimated 18,800 lots from 25,052 the previous session when spreads accounted for 10,483 lots or 42% and EFP for 477 lots. Options volume totaled 4,152 calls and 6,425 puts.
A Dow Jones survey of cotton analysts and merchants produced an average plantings estimate of 10.08 million acres, down 18.2% from 13.32 million acres seeded last year. Survey estimates spanned a wide range from 9 million to 11 million acres.
Trade estimates appear to have hovered predominantly from 10.2 million to 10.8 million acres. The USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service will release results of its intentions survey at 11 a.m. CDT and noon EDT Thursday. The survey was conducted from Feb. 27-March 19.
Market participants also have been anticipating the end of the month and quarter and USDAΆs weekly export sales-shipments report, also scheduled for release Thursday.
Trade estimates on export sales for the week ended March 21 have ranged mostly from 125,000 to 175,000 running bales. Shipments need to average roughly 256,500 running bales a week to reach the USDA estimate.
The market will be closed Friday in observance of Easter and will reopen at the regular time on Sunday.
Futures open interest gained 970 lots Tuesday to 208,993, with MayΆs down 1,283 lots to 126,374, JulyΆs up 1,289 lots to 42,324 and DecemberΆs up 876 lots to 38,601.
Certificated stocks declined 1,407 bales to 426,039. There were 1,230 newly certified bales, 2,637 bales decertified and 7,407 bales awaiting review.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index gained 145 points Wednesday morning to 84.60 cents. The gain matched TuesdayΆs advance in May futures, mostly on technical considerations, and left the A Index premium unchanged at 6.56 cents.
