February 16, 2003	Sunday	Zul Hijjah 14, 1423

NEW YORK, Feb 15: NY cotton futures crawled to a steadier finish Friday as spread trade continued to be the main feature of market activity in front of a holiday weekend.

The market is shut Monday for Presidents’ Day. Trading resumes on Tuesday.

Key March cotton rose 0.33 cent to finish at 52.04 cents a lb, trading 51.55-52.15 cents. Active May added 0.55 to 56.93 cents. Distant months increased 0.37-0.67 cent.

It’s just pre-holiday dullness, said Frank Weathersby of brokers Affinity Trading in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Traders said there was some light outright interest by small speculators but that business was dominated by investors switching their positions out of March and into the back months.

With the holiday on Monday, market participants only have four sessions available to roll their positions.

Open interest in the March cotton contract fell 3,802 to 17,688 lots as of February 13 while open interest in May increased 2,848 lots to 50,912 lots.

Chartists calculated resistance in the March contract at 52.50 and 53.25 cents. The technicians pegged support at 51.80 and 51 cents.

Floor traders said estimated final volume reached 11,000 lots, against the prior tally of 14,539 lots. Open interest in the cotton market fell 166 lots to 90,564 lots as of Feb 13.—Reuters