NEW YORK, Jan 15: NY cotton futures finished on Monday with minor losses on mostly local pressure, as the market struggled from a lack of fresh leads.

Market operators said key players and floor brokers were seemingly resigned to the idea that prices of cotton will likely be stuck between 35 and 38 cents, basis the spot month, for the time being.

It’s been slow, Keith Brown, president of commodity trading firm Keith Brown and Co. in Moultrie, Georgia, said. We really have been range-bound.

Key March cotton lost 0.39 cent to settle at 36.65 cents a lb, near the bottom of its 36.55-37.25 cents trading range.

May fell 0.20 cent to 38.15 cents.

Distant months retreated between 0.23 and 0.43 cent.

Futures started on a steady note and crept to their high for the day before the locals began pressing the market to lower territory in the hope of uncovering some sell stops underneath cotton, floor sources said.

Analysts said the market was trying to seek out fresh leads, especially after the release of a somewhat bearish assessment of the cotton market by the chief executive of leading merchant Dunavant Enterprises, William Dunavant Jr., at the annual Beltwide Cotton conference in Atlanta last week.

Dunavant said cotton prices will likely remain in the doldrums for up to 2-1/2 years and predicted more job losses in the beleaguered American textile industry.

On a technical level, analysts predict support in the March cotton contract at 36.50 cents, while resistance was pegged at 37.90 and 38 cents.

Estimated final volume traded hit some 4,000 lots against the previous count of 6,172 lots.—Reuters