NEW YORK, Aug 25: Cotton futures finished with small losses on Friday after trading in a

narrow range and light dealings, unwinding the day-earlier rally as speculators decided to grab early profits at session highs, traders said.

The bears and disenchanted speculators certainly pulled the rug out from under the bulls quickly this morning, said Mike Stevens, cotton expert at Swiss Financial Services in Mandeville, Louisiana.

The New York Board of Trade’s key open-outcry December cotton contract fell 0.26 cent to settle at 58.35 cents per lb, and set a range from 57.95 to 58.70 cents.

March cotton slipped 0.21 to 61.70 cents. Other months lost from 0.05 to 0.21 cent by the end.

In the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic cotton market the December cotton contract was off 0.21 cent at 58.40 cents and traded from 57.91 to 59.25 cents.

Analysts said the summer doldrums had rendered business slow for the entire week and Friday was no exception.

NYBOT estimated cotton futures floor volume at 4,387 lots, with electronic cotton trade posted around 7,510 lots just after the exchange’s close. In options business, calls were estimated at 5,700 lots and puts at 3,200 lots.

Thursday’s buying left the impression that renewed demand for cotton had begun to pick up. But those thoughts were abandoned when speculators sold fiber futures soon after Friday’s open.

Floor traders said buy orders were lined up at the start but were absorbed about 10 minutes into the session.

Commercial buying, probably fixations, were noted near the lows, but the market had no lift and stayed within a few points of the daily and weekly lows for the remainder of the session, Stevens said.

The summer slowdown took over for much of the session and cotton market participants ignored activity in grain markets that have been competing with cotton for acreage.

Traders said small deals should dominate trade for the near term, and action should heat up again once the US harvest starts up next month, analysts said.

Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees support in the December cotton contract at 58.20 and 57.50 cents, with resistance at 59.20 and 59.80 cents.

On Thursday, open interest in the cotton market was 197,271 lots up 188 lots from the previous session. The official cotton tally was 10,086 on Aug. 23.—Reuters