US cotton futures settled marginally lower on Wednesday, extending losses for the third consecutive session as a stronger US dollar and continued fund rollover activity weighed on market sentiment. Trading remained largely range-bound despite substantial volumes, while the latest US Department of Agriculture (USDA) supply-demand estimates offered limited direction to the market.
The December **** cotton contract settled at **.** cents per pound, down ** points or *.** per cent from the previous close of **.** cents. The March **** contract declined ** points or *.** per cent to settle at **.** cents per pound. The December-March spread stood at *** points, with March trading at a premium.
Trading volume totalled **,*** contracts, approximately ** per cent below Tuesday&#**;s ***,*** contracts, which represented the sixth-highest daily volume in cotton futures history. Much of the activity was attributed to Goldman Sachs and other investment funds rolling their positions from December into March ahead of the approaching delivery period.
