May delivery led the gains as first notice day approaches. Rain still forecast on the Texas Plains. Cash online sales rose to 10,562 bales on The Seam, including 2,585 bales of grower sales.
Cotton futures traded higher in brisk early dealings Friday, with old-crop contracts jumping to triple-digit gains.
July gained 101 points to 83.83 cents, near the high of its 110-point range from 82.80 to 83.90 cents on a volume of 6,431 lots. The May delivery added 119 points to 84.16 cents on this next-to-last session before first notice day, trading from 83 to 84.22 cents on 1,231 lots. December ticked up 33 points to 78.92 cents, trading within a 42-point range from 78.50 to 78.92 cents on 1,685 lots.
Welcome rainfall still is expected in drought-stricken areas of the Southwest, with scattered showers and thunderstorms forecast to move into the Lubbock area later Friday and extend into Saturday. Some weather models indicated cumulative rainfall may be less than forecast earlier.
In ICE cotton futures Thursday, July settled on a slight gain, snapping a string of three consecutive lower closes while remaining below its nine-day moving average a second day.
The May-July switch traded between an inverted 12 and 29 points and widened two points to settle at a 15-point May premium on a volume of 3,134 lots. Inverted July-December traded between 401 and 433 points and narrowed six points to close at a 423-point July premium on 3,247 lots. December-March closed at four points December/over from 10 points May/over on 222 lots. This was December’s first settlement premium since March 8.
Cash online sales increased to 10,562 bales from 8,067 bales on The Seam. Prices rose to an average of 71.36 cents from 69.48 cents, reflecting gains to 21 cents from 20.33 cents in premiums over loan rates. Offerings were 101,638 bales.
Turnovers of 2,585 bales on the grower-to-business and 7,977 bales on the business-to-business exchanges brought averages of 64.06 and 73.72 cents per pound, respectively. Staples 35 or more accounted for 2,052 bales or 79% of the G2B sales and 7,024 bales or 88% of the B2B sales. All the sales came from the Southwest.
The Cotlook A Index of world values dropped 50 points to 91.70 cents, narrowing the premium over the prior-day July futures settlement 16 points to 9.09 cents.
In outside markets, U.S. dollar index futures traded narrowly mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.05% and S&P futures up 0.05%. U.S. dollar index futures extended its weekly gain, ticking up 0.28 to 89.98.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 37 cents to $67.96 and Brent crude dropped 55 cents to $73.78. June gold dropped $6.20 to $1,342.60. July corn was down 0.51%, July soybeans off 0.57% and July Kansas City wheat down 1.46%.
Asian stocks closed lower, down 0.13% in Japan’s Nikkei 225, 0.94% in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, 0.39% in South Korea’s Kospi and 1.47% in China’s Shanghai Composite. India’s Sensex eased 0.03%. European shares were trading mixed, up 0.41% in Britain’s FTSE 100, down 0.27% in Germany’s DAX and up 0.35% in France’s CAC 40.
China’s Zhengzhou cotton futures and prices on the China National Cotton Exchange ended on gains. India’s MCX cotton futures traded firmer in the early going.
