New York, June 30 - Cotton futures crumbled under pressure

New York, June 30 - Cotton futures crumbled under pressure
from aggressive fund selling at the New York Board of Trade on Wednesday
following the release of a bearish cotton-acreage report.
    Dec settled 155 points lower at 51.36 cents a pound. The contract dove to
a fresh contract low of 50.40 cents a pound but found support near the close
from fund buying.
    The market battled locals attempting to push through stops as short-
covering rallies were capped by fund selling.
    "Locals got caught short and the market met with a surplus amount of
volume," said a floor trader. He added that Tuesday''s "poor" settlement was
not supportive to Wednesday''s session.
    "No one was willing to step up and buy," the trader added.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture cotton acreage report released
Wednesday morning was seen as neutral to slightly bearish by industry players
and took the market lower. Cotton acres were reported by USDA at 13.947
million acres, higher than the average industry estimate of 13.69 million
acres.
    Boyd Cruel, senior softs analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., said: "The
(cotton acreage) number came in neutral but the market needed it to be bullish
for the market to move higher."
    He added that there is likely to be follow-through on Thursday as Dec
attempts to hold the 50-cent level.
    Export sales should continue to come in at a strong pace, market sources
said ahead of Thursday''s export sales report from the USDA.
    "We should see continued good sales and shipments should be very strong
based upon the large Step 2 subsidy," said John Flanagan, president of
Flanagan Trading Corp.
    Cruel expects sales of between 100,000 to 150,000 bales. "It should be in
line with last week''s number," he said.
    Last week sales totaled 137,800 bales while exports were at 367,500 bales.
    Estimated volume was 12,000 lots with 4,400 calls and 2,900 put options.

Settlement prices in cents per pound with intraday range:

      Close     Change             Range
Oct   51.20     -1.32            50.20-51.90
Dec   51.36     -1.55            50.40-51.95
Mar   53.27     -1.73            52.40-53.90