May 19, 2002	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1423

NEW YORK, May 18: Cotton futures finished with slight gains Friday on modest speculative buying in thin dealings, with the sideways trading pattern expected to last into next week due to a dearth of fresh news.

It’s just (been) one big non-event, Jobe Moss of brokers and merchants MCM Inc. in Lubbock, Texas, said. He added the only reason fiber futures crept up was because of the weaker dollar, which tends to spur US cotton exports.

Key July cotton rose 0.41 cent to finish at 35.89 cents a lb, moving from 35.56-36.10 cents. New crop December gained 0.42 cent to 40.07 cents. Except for one contract, the rest were flat to 0.45 cent higher.

Cotton opened on a dull note, with speculative accounts light sellers in the market, brokers said.

Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana, said trade bids were the only reason for the relatively firm appearance of cotton prices.

Trade selling was said to have pared the market’s very modest advance, preventing July from maintaining its toehold above 36 cents, dealers said.

Analysts said the lower dollar will likely keep US cotton exports running at a strong pace.

On Thursday, the weekly USDA export sales data showed net upland cotton sales at 185,700 (480-lb) bales and shipments at 227,500 bales.

Both sales and shipments were above trade expectations that they would range from 90,000 to 150,000 bales for sales and 190,000 to 225,000 bales for shipments, respectively.

Big exports will likely keep any correction (in the cotton market) to a minimum, according to the daily commentary of Flanagan Trading Corp. in North Carolina.

Technically, chartists peg resistance in the July cotton contract at 36 and 37 cents while support would be at 35.30/35 cents.

Floor sources said estimated final volume stood at 3,800 lots, from the previous count of 8,369 lots. Open interest in the cotton market fell 552 lots to 67,874 lots as of May 16.—Reuters