NEW YORK, May 31: Cotton futures finished lower Friday on sales by small investors in quiet dealings and the lack of news may lead to quiet business going into next week, brokers said.The benchmark July cotton contract lost 0.25 cent to end at 65.74 cents per lb, trading from 65.54 to 66.33 cents.

The range nearly matched Thursday’s 65.76 to 66.65 cents band.

The new-crop December cotton contract shed 0.27 cent to finish at 74.37 cents, ranging from 74.09 to 74.83 cents. It was almost an inside day when compared to Thurday’s 74.09 to 75.07 cents band.

Volume in the July contract stood at 12,344 lots while December volume was at 8,558 lots.

I think we continue to flop around here like a fish out of water, said Keith Brown, president of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.

He said fiber contracts slipped more as a result of a lack of interest in the market at this time and players will be looking for news to provide direction to fiber contracts going into next week.

A report by Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said open interest in the cotton market has gone from 201,000 lots late last year to a record high of 302,000 in early March.

We should have a definitive answer as to how well cottonwill hold at these levels over the next day or so but it ‘feels’ like a bottom in the making, she concluded.

Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp sees support in the July cotton contract at 65.70 and 65 cents, with resistance at 66.40 and 67.50 cents.

Volume traded Thurday in the cotton market hit 25,948 lots, exchange data showed.—Reuters