NEW YORK, Dec 15: NY cotton futures finished firmer on Friday when late trade and speculative buying into stops sparked a surge in the market which operators believe may spill over into next week.

Cotton hit stops, and it just kept right on going, Frank Weathersby of brokers Affinity Trading in Destin, Florida, said, adding the key March cotton contract may eventually make a run at a topside target of 40 cents.

Benchmark March cotton soared 2.15 cents, a gain of 6.12 per cent on the day, to close at 37.30 cents a lb, moving from 34.91 to 37.50 cents.

May rose 2.26 cents to finish at 38.87 cents. Distant months sprinted up 1.97-2.32 cents.

Cotton prices have rebounded nicely since dropping to near 30-year lows last October, having plunged at that time due to bumper supplies and a recession spawned by the September plane attacks on New York and outside Washington.

Fiber futures gapped down to its low for the day before trade accounts provided a floor for the market, floor sources said. Speculative players then piled in and gradually ran the market to higher ground.

Cotton really took off in the last half-hour of business.

Stops were elected further and only light local pressure at the top of the range pared the market’s advance.

We equaled the weekly high of 37.50 (cents in March) and then tailed off a bit going into the close, a broker stated.

Analysts said the market will continue to study carefully the current torrid pace of US cotton exports.

Cotton market economist O.A. Cleveland said March should mount another run to the 39-cents resistance area in the coming weeks.

This will give May and July a possible shot at the mid-40s (cents), but one shouldn’t expect the market to climb out its fund anytime soon, he said.

Technically, traders said they feel nearby resistance for March cotton would be at 37.50 and 38 cents while support is tipped to emerge at 36.60 cents.

Volume reached 20,000 lots compared with the prior count of 9,649 lots.—Reuters