CIJENE PAMUKA NA BURZI U NEW YORKU

U.S. pamuk prodaja na tržištu - 23. prosinca 1997. _________________________________________________________________ Ukupna prodaja na 7 tržišta u SAD-u 29,079 (17,601 prijašnji dan) Prosiječna cijena 1-1/16 inch cotton 64,20 centi (64,52 prijašnji dan) _________________________________________________________________ NEW YORK - pamuk zatvaranje - 23. prosinca 1997. _________________________________________________________________ MJE. ZADNJA OTVA NAJ- NAJ- ZATVA- NAGODBE RANJE VIŠA NIŽA RANJE MAR8 67.45 67.94 68.34 67.12 67.35 67.43 MAY8 68.65 69.40 69.60 68.41 68.65 68.69 JUL8 70.00 70.69 70.70 69.85 70.00 70.00 OCT8 72.12 72.20 72.12 72.12 71.70 71.75 DEC8 72.48 72.75 72.95 72.40 72.48 72.49 MAR9 73.95 73.60 73.63 MAY9 74.40 74.10 74.15 JUL9 74.90 74.60 74.65 OCT9 74.00 74.10 74.15 DEC9 72.50 73.00 73.10 NYCE cotton ends lower, early gains erased NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - NYCE cotton futures erased early gains and ended weaker in light pre-holiday dealings Tuesday, pressured by a mixture of speculative and producer selling, dealers said. Benchmark March cotton fell 0.45 cent per lb on the day to 67.43 cents, after ranging between 68.34 and 67.12 cents. Second-month May closed 0.46 cent lower at 68.69 cents, while the rest of the board finished down 0.35 to up 0.05 cent. Cotton prices headed higher at the opening on Tuesday, bolstered by speculative short-covering amid friendly weekly spec/hedge data and monthly U.S. Census Bureau consumption numbers, traders said. Before the opening bell, NYCE said in its weekly spec/hedge report that speculators held a 30 percent net short position as of December 19, unchanged from the previous week. "It's unchanged but still a high number," said one trader. "There's still a lot of room for the specs to get out." The monthly U.S. Census Bureau consumption report released this morning showed factory consumption of domestic and foreign cotton at 858,741 480-lb bales in Novermber, compared with a revised October figure of 872,002 bales. Based on the November Census data the National Cotton Council of America put U.S. factory consumption of domestic and foreign cotton at a seasonally adjusted rate of 11.576 million bales, up from a revised 11.456 million bales in October. Upward momentum accelerated after March cotton rose above 68.10 cents, triggering light buy stops. But scale-up producer selling capped gains, prompting a bout of speculative selling, traders said. "We had a friendly consumption number and the market goes down," said another trader. "The problem is, a lot of producers are trying to sell cotton. Every time the market goes up they're going to be there and that's what we ran into today." "This market just has the weight of the crop on it," he added. Some traders said March was likely to stay in a range between 66 and 69.50 cents in the near term, with strong buying interest at the lows bolstering U.S. export business and producer selling limiting any upswing. Volume reached an estimated 6,000 lots, down from Monday's official tally of 6,254 lots. 241107 MET dec 97