NEW YORK, Aug 2: NY cotton futures ended with slight gains Thursday on light speculative buying as fiber contracts dawdled in narrow range-business, with more sideways action seen due to a dearth of market-moving news.

These are what I call filler days, said Keith Brown, president of commodity trading firm Keith Brown and Co. in Moultrie, Georgia.

He said most operators were content to sit back to wait for release of the USDA’s monthly supply/demand report August 12 or see if any kind of news hit the futures ring.

Key December cotton rose 0.40 cent to settle at 48.89 cents a lb, trading 48.05-49 cents. March went up the same to 50.65 cents. Back months increased 0.25-0.40 cent.

A mixture of trade and speculative accounts were on both sides of the market at the start of business, with enough trade buying present to discourage aggressive speculative pressure, brokers said.

When locals tried to push December into the perceived sell stops below yesterday’s lows, there were numerous trade bids below 48.10 (cents, basis December).

On another matter, the weekly USDA export sales data showed net upland cotton sales 38,100 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs), while shipments stood at 187,400 RBs.

Technicians said they believe resistance in the December cotton contract remains at 49.50 and 50 cents. Support is seen at 47.50 and 47 cents.

Estimated final volume touched 5,600 lots and against the previous count of 5,295 lots.

Open interest in the cotton market rose 446 lots to 75,943 lots as of July 31.—Reuters