* Market down in extended phase of consolidation
* Technical support sitting underneath market at 21-day MA
* Coming up: USDA crop progress report later on Monday
NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures ended down
for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, as prices extended a
phase of consolidation from recent gains and buyers sided with
caution in front of a government crop report due at the end of
the week, brokers said.
"It was a consolidation day," said Mike Stevens, an
independent cotton analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana.
"We did not come close to yesterday's highs and that was a
bit of a disappointment to the bulls. It wasn't failure ... it
was a consolidation day."
The benchmark March cotton contract CTH1 on ICE Futures
U.S. eased 0.06 cent to end at $1.3037 per lb, after moving
from $1.2821 to $1.3425.
"We sold off, but did not violate yesterday's lows,"
Stevens said, adding short-term technical support at the 21-day
moving average held the downside in check.
(Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/dec98q )
Volume reached 22,600 lots by 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), about
37 percent below the 30-day average of 36,000 lots, Thomson
Reuters preliminary data showed.
Market players expect volumes to remain relatively low
ahead of the monthly supply/demand report from the U.S.
Agriculture Department due out on Friday.
"The December report shouldn't hold any surprises ...
certainly in the U.S. However, when you look at the world
numbers, there is still a lot of suspense out there about
India," Stevens said.
Indian cotton prices may rise this week as exporters try to
ramp up purchases to ship maximum fibre to beat a mid-December
government deadline, dealers said. ID:nSGE6B6042
Furthermore, traders will also focus on the USDA's weekly
crop progress report on Monday at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT).
Looking farther out, market players will turn to
prospective spring 2011 cotton plantings in countries such as
the United States and China to see if producers will be able to
churn out more cotton.
Analytical firm Informa Economics upped its U.S. cotton
plantings forecast in 2011 to 12.2 million acres, a 4-year high
and nearly 12 percent higher than 2010 cotton sowings of 10.909
million acres.