NEW YORK, Jan 16: NY cotton futures settled near the session peak on Tuesday due to buying by small speculators in a session devoid of market-moving news, with more of the same expected in the coming days.

The March rally is a combination of local short-covering interspersed with light trade fixation buying, Mike Stevens of Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana, said, adding locals have dominated dealings for much of the past week.

March cotton rose 0.69 cent to finish at 37.34 cents a lb, near the top of its 36.30-37.40 cents trading band.

May gained the same to 38.84 cents.

The rest of the board added 0.40-0.66 cent.

Dealers said cotton hit some buy stops at 37.25 cents in March and 38.70 cents in May, the highs reached on Monday, and that this allowed the market to plow higher.

The only time you really feel the market is going somewhere would be if we break 38 cents (in March) or go below 35 cents.

Traders said some market participants were trying to talk up estimates on potential US 2002 cotton plantings, but the USDA data on sowings remains more than two months away and the speculation will not have much impact on cotton prices.

On another matter, the weekly New York Board of Trade spec/hedge report showed funds with a net long position of 29.2 per cent, slightly up from last week’s net long standing of 28.5 per cent.

Technically, analysts predict support in the March cotton contract at 36.30 cents while resistance was forecast at 37.25 and then 38 cents.

Estimated final volume traded hit some 5,500 lots, against the previous count of 4,332 lots. Open interest in the market was at 63,360 lots, down 29 lots from the previous session.—Reuters