ICE cotton slips on weakness in grains, equities
04/01/2024 16:29
Jan 4 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures drifted lower on
Thursday as a dip in equity and grain markets spread also
weighed on the natural fiber, while the focus shifted to weekly
U.S. export sales data.
* Cotton contracts for March CTH4 fell 0.62 cent, or 0.8%,
at 80.31 cents per lb at 10:24 a.m. ET (1524 GMT).
* The stock market rose in the last "two months and is now
correcting. Also, there's been good weather in South America to
help the grain markets. So those two markets are putting some
pressure on cotton," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner
Brokerage in Cleveland.
* The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were subdued after a
jobs report indicated resilience in the labor market, tempering
expectations of how early interest-rate cuts could begin. .N
* Chicago soybean futures slid, with the market dropping for
four of five sessions as rains in top exporter Brazil weighed on
prices. GRA/
* Traders await the United States Agriculture Department's
(USDA) weekly export sales report on Friday, a day later than
usual due to the New Year holiday. EXP/COT
* "We're looking at a holiday period for the next two
reports. So I expect tomorrow's and next week's reports to be
down from recent weeks," Varner said.
* Last week's export sales report showed that exports of
231,000 running bales were at their highest level for the
marketing year 2023/2024. EXP/COT
* Limiting losses, the U.S. dollar lost 0.2%, making cotton
cheaper for buyers holding other currencies. USD/
* Elsewhere, Brazilian agribusiness firm SLC Agricola said
that one of its cotton bales warehouses at a farm in
northeastern Bahia state was hit by a fire on Jan. 2, damaging
part of its output.
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
((Anjana.Anil@thomsonreuters.com;))