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Cotton closes firmer

NEW YORK: NYCE cotton futures settled higher on trade buying, as funds rolled May positions into July ahead of the first notice day on May 24, traders said.

"There was trade buying all day, especially in July," one floor source said. He said the trade bidded prices up early on and then continued to lay orders around 84.50 cents a lb basis July.

Meanwhile, the funds rolled May positions into July, bidding the latter contract up 0.62 cents while May closed only 0.28 cent higher at 83.45 cents a lb, having traded from 83.85 to 83.02 cents a lb. July went out 0.62 firmer at 84.67, while the deferred contracts closed 0.15 lower to 0.50 higher.

New crop December settled 0.15 cent firmer on a seven-day forecast predicting a dearth of rain in West Texas, industry sources said.

Volume was estimated at 15,000 lots, compared with Tuesday's official volume of 21,803 lots.-Reuter