March ended 1.09 cents higher at 75.09 cents a lb, after trading from 73.90 to 75.25 cents. May gained 0.95 cent to settle at 76.25 cents. Back months, with the exception of one contract, finished up 0.03 to 0.88 cent.
"There was some decent fund and trade buys today, but I think a lot of guys are staying on the sidelines until Monday's supply/demand report," said one trader.
Industry analysts said they only expect minor, if any, changes in the USDA monthly production report due out Monday at 8:30 am EST (1330 GMT).
Carl Anderson, an economist with Texas A&M University, said he does not expect any major changes in the USDA figures.
Anderson said there may be a slight upward adjustment in the estimate for US cotton crop of between 18.3 to 18.5 million (480-lb) bales, from the USDA forecast of 18.22 million last month.
Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for Frank Schneider and Co Inc in Atlanta, said that, if China does not update its estimate for its crop, the USDA will likely, "leave the numbers unchanged for the time being."
AS for China, the USDA said the Chinese crop would reach 22 million bales and that consumption would be at 30.2 million, meaning that imports should hit 7.0 million bales.
The chief executive of leading US merchant Dunavant Enterprises, William Dunavant Jr. said Tuesday he felt the Chinese crop would be at 20.7 million bales and that Chinese imports in 2003/04 would range from 8 million to 9 million bales.
In its weekly export sales report, the USDA said US net upland cotton sales stood at 103,500 running bales (RBs, 500 lbs each), slightly higher than the 89,300 RBs in the previous week's report.
Shipments reached 147,300 RBs, versus 175,200 RBs last week.
Technicians pegged resistance in the March contract at 75.90 cents, while support was seen at 74.10 and 73.80 cents.
Floor dealers said estimated final volume reached 10,412 lots, from Wednesday's official tally of 13,090 lots. Open interest eased 280 lots to 88,842 lots as of January 7.