NEW YORK, Dec 22: NY cotton futures ended on Friday with slight gains mainly from local shortcovering in quiet dealings in front of the long Christmas break.

Key March cotton rose 0.32 cent to finish at 36.23 cents a lb, moving 35.82-36.40 cents.

May added 0.18 cent to settle at 37.66 cents. Increases in distant months ranged from 0.15-0.50 cent.

It’s just a little bit of shortcovering before the holidays,” said John Flanagan, president of brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. in North Carolina, adding modest trade support helped propped up cotton.

The cotton market will be shut from Dec 24-25 for Christmas and will reopen for business on Dec 26.

Cotton remained pinned in the range it has found itself in after it recovered from falls to near 30-year lows last October when speculative fund buying and brisk offtake by end-users lifted futures from the 28 cents level posted by the then front December contract, a mark unseen since 1972.

Futures gapped down to its low for the session and then gradually edged into positive territory on the back of minor buying by small speculators, floor sources said.

The market is very, very thin and trading volume is light, said Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana.

The locals just covered their shorts and that was it, a floor trader said.

Cotton also derived some support from the sale of March and July puts, analysts said.

On the other hand, the Cotlook A Index used by the trade as an indicator of global cotton demand was again quoted unchanged at 43 cents.

Technically, brokers said they believe support in the March cotton contract would be at 35 and 34.70 cents while resistance would be at 37 and 38 cents.

Estimated final volume reached 4,500 lots from the previous 3,035 lots.

The US Department of Agriculture’s daily market news offices in Des Moines, Iowa, and Washington, D.C. will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, December 24 and 25, in

observance of the Christmas holiday.

Daily livestock slaughter estimates, livestock and meat pricing reports, cotton and grain reports will not be issued on these days. USDA will resume issuing all reports on Wednesday.

Monday’s livestock slaughter estimates will be released concurrently with Wednesday’s estimates at 1:00 p.m. CST.

USDA weekly grain export inspections report will be issued on Wednesday, not Monday, while the weekly export sales report usually issued on Thursdays will be issued on Friday, Dec 28.—Reuters