December 12, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 26, 1422

NEW YORK, Dec 11: NY cotton futures closed near a two-week low Monday as trade and speculative pressure deflated fiber futures in front of the monthly USDA production report due out on Tuesday.

The trade and the specs sold it off a little bit, hitting stops (on the way south), said Frank Weathersby of brokers Affinity Trading in Destin, Florida.

Cotton prices have undergone a correction after the market rallied from near 30-year lows in October. Low fiber prices attracted fresh buying from importers and fund buying gave cotton a boost in an attempt to break out of long-term bear market.

Key March cotton sank 1.00 cent to finish at 36.34 cents a lb, dealing from 36.10-37.50 cents.

On a spot continuation basis, it was the lowest price for cotton since Nov 28 when it ended at 35.78 cents.

May lost the same to 37.66 cents and back months retreated 0.91-1.55 cents.

Cotton edged up to its high for the day shortly after starting business, but options-related and local pressure sent futures slithering lower, floor brokers said.

Trade sales of March and May calls was said to have been seen in the market, they added.

Analysts said market players were looking toward the monthly USDA supply/demand report to see if the government trims further its estimate for global cotton consumption or raises world ending stocks.

In its November supply data, USDA pegged world consumption at 91.64 million (480-lb) bales from 92.08 million in October and forecast world ending stocks at 44.38 million bales against 43.26 million.

In other news, the Cotlook A Index used by the trade as an indicator of global cotton demand was quoted Monday at 42.95 cents, unchanged from the previous level.

Traders said they feel resistance for March cotton would be at 37.50 and 38 cents while support should emerge at 36 cents.

Estimated final volume reached 7,000 lots compared with the prior count of 5,738 lots.

AHMEDABAD: Indian cotton prices are likely to remain steady in the near term as textile mills scale down imports and buy more of the domestic crop, traders said on Tuesday.

Traders said the recent gains in international cotton prices also helped lift domestic market sentiment.

Traders said Indian textile mills, which imported about 2.2 million bales of cotton in the year to September 2001, were wary of signing new import contracts fearing a hike in import duty.

Cotton arrivals were expected to peak at 90,000-100,000 bales (of 170-kg each) per day in the next few weeks from the current 50,000-60,000 bales, they said.—Reuters