March 8 (Reuters) -U.S. cotton futures fell over 4% as investors locked in profits on Friday, countering support from a U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) monthly supply and demand estimates report.
* Cotton contract for May CTc1 fell 4 cents, or 4.03%, at 95.28 cents per lb by 13:08 p.m. ET (1808 GMT) after trading limit down at 95.28 cents a lb earlier. Prices were down 2.3%for the week.
* Cotton prices rose over 4% in the previous session after USDA's export sales report showed exports at 330,800 running bales were up 24% from the previous week and 26% from the prior four-week average.EXP/COT
* "It's a little bit of profit taking from speculators more than anything. Most of cash market activity is taken a back seat with this volatility as nobody really wants to participate," said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management consultant at StoneX Group.
* "The report came out a little bit bullish for U.S., but rest of the world, it kind of evened itself out and market is correcting itself," Thomen added.
* The USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report showed lower production and ending stocks relative to last month, with production reduced at 334,000 bales to 12.1 million bales.
* U.S. ending stocks were 300,000 bales lower at 2.5 million bales, according to the report.
* World production was seen higher at 130,000 bales as lower U.S. and Argentine crops were countered by a 500,000-bale increase in India as per the report.
* Global consumption was almost 500,000 bales higher while world trade stood at about 400,000 bales higher as China’s imports were raised by 900,000 bales, the report added.
* Exports were projected higher for India, Australia, and Turkey and ending stocks were down to 353,000 bales to 83.3 million bales.
Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Nick Zieminski