ICE US Cotton Harvest Is Helped By Trade Optimism And Speculative Buying.

According to foreign news on January 17th, cotton futures of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) closed higher on Friday, helped by the signing of the first stage trade agreement between China and the United States and the optimism of the United States Senate after approving the revised version of the free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.


Speculative buying also brought support to the market, analysts said.


The ICE3 cotton contract rose 1.03 cents or 1.47%, and the settlement price was 71.25 cents per pound. The contract transaction range is 69.95-71.37 cents.


ICE5 cotton rose 1 cents or 1.4%, and the settlement price was 72.19 cents per pound.


Analysts at INTL FCStone say that the signing of several trade agreements with Bailey Thomen is encouraging some buying activities.


"There were also some speculative buying on Friday, which pushed cotton futures prices up slightly."


The agreement approved by the US Senate on Thursday is the revision of the 26 year old North American Free Trade Agreement. On Wednesday, leaders of the United States and China signed the first stage of the trade agreement. China will increase its purchases of US goods and services in the next two years as a condition of exchange. The United States will suspend and lower some tariffs, thereby easing the impact of the 18 months on global economic growth.


Cotton trader Plexus Cotton said in a report, "almost all speculative purchases on Friday are short filled. We haven't seen the establishment of speculative long positions. Only in this way can actions be sustained in the market.


The total volume of futures market decreased by 1554 to 24546 hands on Friday.


Data show that the previous day increased 109 positions to 251730 hands.


As of January 16th, the ICE contract for delivery of cotton futures contract No. 2 was flat at 6792 packs.