NEW YORK, Oct 30: NY cotton futures were mostly firmer at the close Monday due to light speculative shortcovering and option buying as the market consolidated after sinking last week to near 30-year lows.

The key December cotton contract crept up 0.08 cent to settle at 28.94 cents a lb, trading 28.65-29.20 cents.

Last Thursday, the contract ended at 28.52 cents in the lowest close for cotton on a spot continuation basis since 1972.

March inched up 0.02 cent to end at 30.57 cents.

Distant months put in a mixed performance, ranging from 0.22 cent higher to 0.25 cent easier.

It’s a little bit of speculative shortcovering and option-related buying, John Flanagan of brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. in North Carolina, said, adding fiber prices may hang around these levels for the meantime.

Cotton prices have been hammered recently by an exceedingly bearish outlook of ample supplies, softening demand and a recession sparked by the September plane attacks in New York and outside Washington.

Cotton retreated at the start of business, as expected, but then sprang up from local and speculative shortcovering, brokers said.

After pushing it to the highs of the day, trade pressure trimmed the market’s gains, they said.

Locals have been the best buyers in December along with some spec shortcovering, said Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Traders said the market is also bracing for release of the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) weekly spec/hedge report on Tuesday, the first time the data will again become available following last month’s plane attacks here.

Release of the data was suspended after the assault destroyed the NYBOT’s offices and trading floor at 4 World Trade. The exchange has relocated to a backup facility in the New York borough of Queens.

In the last report on Sept. 11, the funds were net short 29.4 per cent against a net short standing of 28 per cent in the preceding week. Some analysts said a net short standing of around 25 per cent seems likely in the market.

Technicians said support in the December cotton contract should be at 28, 27.80 and possibly 26 cents. Below that, cotton futures may visit the 22-cents area, a level it last saw in 1966. Technicians said near-term resistance would be at 29.50 and 30 cents.

In other news, the Cotlook A Index used by the trade as an indicator of global cotton demand slipped 0.10 cent to 34.95 cents.

Final volume traded at about 6,500 lots, from the prior tally of 8,543 lots.—Reuters