NY cotton ends firmer as trade eyes USDA reports

 * Market boosted by investor, speculative buying

 * Talk of strong USDA export sales data

 * Friday's USDA supply/demand data eyed

 NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Cotton futures closed firmer
Wednesday on investor buying tied in part to the expectation a
government report on Thursday will show strong U.S. cotton
export sales, brokers said.

 The market is also bracing for Friday's release of the
monthly supply/demand report from the U.S. Agriculture
Department, they said.

 ICE Futures U.S. benchmark December cotton contract CTZ0
rose 1.19 cents to finish at 99.75 cents per lb.

 The contract traded from 98.10 to $1.0014. It is an inside
day since the range is within Tuesday's 96.90 to $1.004 band.

 Total volume traded reached 11,478 lots at 2:30 p.m. EDT
(1830 GMT), about a third below the 30-day average at 18,107
lots, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.

 Bill Nelson, analyst at Doan Advisory Services in St.
Louis, Missouri, said some of the buying may be in anticipation
of robust U.S. cotton sales when the USDA's weekly export sales
data is released on Thursday.

 Cotton brokers expect total U.S. cotton sales to range from
300,000 to 500,000 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each), from
842,400 RBs in last week's data.

 After the data goes out, Nelson said the focus will quickly
turn to the USDA's supply report. Traders said the focus will
be on U.S. cotton exports, and production numbers from China,
India and Pakistan.

 He said it seems cotton prices are content, for now, trade
between 96 cents and $1.02.

 "People are a little reluctant to get on the short side (of
the market)," he said.

 Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. sees resistance in the
December cotton contract at $1.004 and $1.0135, with support to
be found at 99.50 and 98.65 cents.

 Volume traded on Monday reached 28,039 lots, from the prior
tally of 20,034 lots, data from ICE Futures U.S. said.