Cotton futures ease in commodities selling spree

Cotton futures eased on Friday, retreating from the previous day's more than one-week high under pressure from selling across commodities and worries over excess inventories that offset a strong export report. Traders are worried about excess inventories, particularly in China, said John Bondurant, a trader in Memphis, Tennessee. That offset what he said were "super" export sales.

US export sales of upland cotton totalled 308,800 running bales, a marketing year high, in the week ended February 11, up 36 percent from the previous week, according to US government data released on Friday, delayed one day by a government holiday. The most-active May cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled down 0.16 cent, or 0.27 percent, at 59.54 cents per lb, after hitting 59.35 cents a lb. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Thursday totalled 60,463 480-lb bales, up from 59,658 in the previous session. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 1.39 percent.