May 11, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1424

NEW YORK, May 10: NY cotton settled higher Friday on fresh bouts of trade and speculative buying, with most players still uncertain if the market has put in a bottom after sinking to a two-month low this week, brokers said.

Key July cotton climbed 1.00 cent to close at 53.34 cents a lb, trading 51.80-53.60 cents. Wednesday, the contract sank 1.15 cents to end at 50.61 cents in the lowest close for cotton since trading around 50 cents in early March.

New crop December gained 1.05 cents to 57.37 cents. Except for three contracts, the rest rose 0.90-1.08 cents.

The rubber band got a little stretched on the downside so it’s snapping back a little, said Jarral Neeper, an analyst with Calcot Ltd. in Bakersfield, California.

Futures gapped lower at the opening bell, but buying by the trade and small speculators stabilized cotton and ran it higher, where it stayed the rest of the session, dealers said.

Market analyst O.A. Cleveland said in a weekly report the selling inspired by fears of cancellations by China because of a flu-like viral outbreak there seem to be dissipating.

Concerns continue with respect to China, but both cotton sales and shipments continue to be made in a variety of international growths, including US growths, he said.

The new crop December contract will, in due time, pull other contract months higher. Concern over the US crop, particularly the extremely slow start by the traditional high yielding-high quality California crop, has the potential to rocket December futures to life of contract highs in the 63-65 cent range, Cleveland concluded.

But Neeper said there are some questions in his mind about the sustainability of the rise and said July would need to race past the 54-56 cents region from where the market recently broke down to confirm the advance.

He said the market’s recent surge may well be a “false rally” and speculators could easily sell the market anew.

Technicians said they believe support in the July contract would be at 52 cents while resistance would be at 54 cents.

Final estimated volume reached 11,000 lots, from the prior tally of 15,114 lots. Total open interest in the cotton market fell 599 lots to 74,168 lots as of May 8. —Reuters