* Spec pressure nudges market slightly lower
* Market consolidates after Friday's relief advance
May 21 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled firmer Monday on
modest speculative sales to scupper a short-lived rebound which
lifted fiber contracts from the 2-1/4 year low it hit last week,
analysts said.
Cotton paid little attention to firm outside markets, with
global stocks rebounding as world leaders emphasized their
support for economic growth and China said it is open to embark
on more steps to stimulate business.
Key July cotton on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange
slipped 0.47 cent to end at 77.52 cents per lb, moving from
76.49 to 79.05 cents.
New-crop December fell 0.64 cent to finish at 74.57
cents, trading from 73.75 to 76.30 cents.
Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst for commodity
brokerage Penson Futures in Atlanta, Georgia, said speculative
accounts likely pressured cotton, but there was "no news of
consequence" on the fundamental front.
July held above the Thursday low of 76.26 cents, but
December slipped under the Thursday low of 73.78 cents by
trading at 73.75, with the contract low of 73 cents beckoning
further afield.
Independent analyst Mike Stevens said market orders right at
the close of trade pared cotton's losses.
Traders said the market's next move will still depend to a
great degree on the euro zone debt crisis and how it is feeding
into a strong U.S. dollar. There is also the presence of a large
U.S. cotton crop affecting the market.
Analysts said activity may thin out slightly as several
merchants attend an industry meeting of the American Cotton
Shippers Association later in the week in Denver.
The 14-day relative strength index reading stood near 29. A
reading of 30 or below normally means a market is oversold and
one of 70 or higher meant it is overbought.
Volume on Monday reached almost 16,500 lots, about a third
under the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Open interest amounted to 188,931 lots as of May 18, ICE
Futures U.S. exchange data showed.