* Market down for third straight session
* Weak outside markets, firm dollar pressure cotton
NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters) – Cotton futures settled lower Friday on speculative selling spurred by weaker outside markets and a firmer dollar, although analysts said cotton may be due for a bounce after falling for the past three sessions.
July cotton on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange dropped 1.22 cents, or 1.37 percent, to settle at 87.99 cents per lb, trading from 87.91 to 89.56 cents.
For the week, the fiber lost 3.55 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. It was the lowest weekly close for the second positions cotton contract since late December 2011.
New-crop December shed 0.72 cent to end at 85.80 cents after ranging from 85.50 to 86.77 cents.
“You’ve got people throwing in the towel,” said Mike Stevens, an independent analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana.
“When you got the CRB getting whacked, and the stock market getting whacked, (cotton) people go to the sidelines,” he added.
Global stocks swooned and crude oil tumbled Friday , while the Reuters-Jefferies Commodity Index slid as well, reflecting sour sentiment from weak U.S. jobs data and economic data that pointed to a deeper recession across the euro zone than previously thought.
Traders and players awaited USDA’s vital supply/demand report, which accounts for the first estimate of market conditions in the coming 2012/13 marketing season (August/July). It will be released on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).
Friday’s estimated volume was just under 13,300 lots, about 45 percent below the 30-day norm, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Open interest stood at 182,341 lots as of May 3, ICE Futures U.S. exchange data showed.
(Reporting by Rene Pastor; Editing by)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/04/markets-cotton-idUSL1E8G4IF020120504
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