NEW YORK, Aug 6: NY cotton futures stumbled to a lower on Monday after fund selling into stops and a general lack of interest deflated fiber values, although trade buying gave the market some support at the lows.

Key December cotton settled down 2.39 cents, or nearly 5.0 per cent, at 45.79 cents a lb, barely above the session trough of 45.65 cents. The session peak was at 47.80 cents. March fell 2.25 cents to 47.75 cents and back months tumbled 2.10-2.45 cents.

Technicians said they believe resistance in the December cotton contract would now be at 46 and 47 cents, with support at 45.35 and then 44.65 cents.

Estimated final volume touched 13,000 lots against Friday’s count of 4,138 lots.

Open interest rose 338 lots to 76,851 lots as of Aug 2. —Reuters