Old-crop contracts close higher for day but down for week. Mills added a board total of 803 lots to their unpriced on-call position.
Cotton futures traded on both sides of the prior dayΆs ranges in old-crop contracts and closed mixed for a second day Friday, this time slightly higher in the front two deliveries and flat to modestly lower in December and beyond.
Spot May settled up 20 points to 77.47 cents, in the lower third of its 98-point range from down 10 points at 77.17 cents to up 88 points at 78.15 cents. It lost 89 points for the week.
July finished up 26 points to 78.74 cents, trading within a 90-point range from 78.36 to 79.26 cents. December closed unchanged at 75.49 cents, trading within a mere 33-point inside day range from 75.22 to 75.55 cents. For the week, July dropped 64 points and December eased 14 points.
In outside markets, U.S. dollar index futures traded down 0.1% ahead of the close there, while U.S. stocks ticked slightly lower and crude oil gained 31 cents to $48.01. May soybeans fell to a new five-month low and closed down 1.5%.
Cotton volume increased to an estimated 28,454 lots from 19,997 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 9,989 lots or 50% and EFP 41 lots. Options volume rose to 7,955 lots (4,778 calls and 3,177 puts) from 3,169 lots (2,477 calls and 692 puts).
Mills added 803 on-call lots to raise their unpriced position across the board to 119,291 lots last week, while producers added 841 lots to push theirs to 30,466 lots.
The latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission on-call report, released after the close Thursday, showed the net call difference dipped a marginal 38 lots to 88,825, which was 31.5% of the open interest. The unpriced ratio was 3.9 to 1.
In spot May, the ratio was 15 to 1 after the unpriced positions declined 2,939 lots to 33,277 for mills and dropped 390 lots to 2,287 for producers. In July, the unfixed holdings rose 741 lots to 43,569 for mills and 76 lots to 2,833 for producers.
Mills appeared to have been looking for stepped-up fund-spec liquidation selling from near-record high net longs to generate more pressure on the market to price more of their unfixed old-crop position. First notice day for May is April 24.
On the competitive-pricing scene, the average of the five lowest-priced growths for the Far East gained 34 points to 85.69 cents during the week ended Thursday, according to USDA, while the lowest-priced U.S. growth of comparable quality landed there rose 80 points to 86.15 cents.
The U.S. premium widened to 46 points from even. The adjusted world price for the program week ahead, reflecting transportation and quality differentials, is figured at 68.26 cents, up from 67.92 cents. This of course means the marketing loan gain remains at zero.
For qualities better than 31-3-35, the fine count adjustment is nine points for 2016-crop cotton. This is based on differences in premiums in U.S. and international markets.
Futures open interest grew 1,609 lots Thursday to 281,312, with MayΆs down 1,256 lots to 154,035, JulyΆs up 1,669 lots to 50,137 and DecemberΆs up 1,193 lots to 68,521. Cert stocks were unchanged at 326,221 bales.
