NEW YORK, April 5: Cotton futures closed firmer Friday on switch trade and buying by some small investors inspired in part by the steady tone of grains prices, brokers said.

The ICE Futures’ May cotton contract rose 0.45 cent to end at 70.86 cents per lb, trading from 69.83 to 71.16 cents.

The new-crop December cotton futures added 0.57 to close at 81.44 cents, in a band from 80.45 to 81.60 cents.

Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said most of the trades were dominated by the difference between the front and back months in fiber contracts.

Once the USDA data is out of the way, activity will be focused on liquidating the May contract before it goes into first notice for deliveries in less than three weeks.

Fundamentally, the trade is monitoring spring planting conditions in several producing states in the US cotton belt like Texas and Georgia.

Forecasters DTN Meteorlogix said Texas, where almost half of the US cotton crop will be planted in 2008, remained mostly dry through the weekend and into Tuesday.

New York cotton contracts slipped in early trade down to its low for the session, but trade fixation buying emerged and the market quickly moved back into positive territory, dealers said.

This thing could turn on a dime and head south if grains begin tanking again.

There is really no fixed direction in cotton at this time, one explained.

Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. sees support in the May cotton contract at 70.70 and 70 cents, with resistance at 71.60 and 72 cents.

Volume traded in the cotton market on Thursday was at 20,504 lots, with open interest in the market down 1,909 lots to 266,873 contracts as of April 3, exchange data showed.

—Reuters