NEW YORK, July 23: Cotton futures settled higher on Friday on modest speculative short-covering and the steady tone of the market may inspire it to move higher into next week, analysts said.

The New York Board of Trade’s December cotton contract went up 1.16 cents to end at 51.76 cents a lb, moving from 50.15 to 51.80 cents. March gained 1.07 to 53.95 cents. Back months added 1.00 cent to 1.30 cents.

Mike Stevens, an analyst for brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana, said the action was “primarily spec driven” and an improved technical outlook likewise aided the rise.

He said the close above 51.45 cents, basis the key December contract, would give us the first plus week, albeit not by much, in three weeks. The other would be the kind of demand to be seen in the upcoming 2005/06 marketing year (August/July) and the condition of the maturing crop in both the US and China.

Futures started at their lows for the session and then gradually worked higher due to speculative interest in cotton, dealers said. Some automatic buy orders were triggered when new highs for the week were posted.—Reuters