* Weekly U.S. exports jump 80 percent on China mill buying
* Market hits resistance at 100-day moving average
* Beijing seen resuming buying spree after holiday
NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Cotton prices eased on Thursday
on technical selling after prices rose to touch a 100-day moving
average after data showed mills in China, the world's largest
textile market, resumed buying last week as prices were tumbling
to close to 70 cents.
Ending a three-day winning streak, selling started as prices
hit resistance following a rally to a one-week high of 72.65
cents per lb.
New York cotton for December delivery settled down
0.10 percent at 72.09 cents per lb on ICE Futures U.S. With just
over 9,600 lots traded, volumes were almost half Wednesday's
levels.
Buying was triggered by a buoyant grains market and U.S.
Department of Agriculture data that showed export sales jumped
80 percent last week to just under 240,000 running bales,
reaching their second-highest level since June.
With almost half the total headed for China, the market was
relieved mills had made a return to the market, lured in by
falling prices, which hit two-month lows of 70.22 cents last
Thursday.
"This would be fresh mill buying," Ron Lawson, a long-time
trader with brokerage logicadvisors.com in Sonoma, California.
The latest export total is the largest since early September
when over 300,000 bales were sold, ending a hiatus of over three
months when exports were on average below 100,000 bales.
Merchants hope the data may be the start of a buying spree,
which could help soak up some of the global surplus and offset
sluggish overall demand.
China's mills typically rely on imports if they can secure
sufficient import quotas, because prices are cheaper than the
domestic market which is elevated by government buying.
Beijing is expected to start a months-long buying program
next week, after the country's week-long holiday, to replenish
strategic stocks and support local farmers.
"For at least the next four months, the strategic reserve
will be focusing on buying domestic farmer supplies in order to
help smooth over the changing of the governmental guard," said
Lawson.
While supplies are plentiful due to the record carryover
from the previous marketing year, exchange certified supplies
are running low, with the old crop depleted and the market
awaiting fresh arrivals with the U.S. harvest in November.
Stocks rose by just two 480-lb bales, and the total of 9,072
bales is a low of more than a year.
Fibers underperformed a strong broader commodities market,
with oil leading the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index
, a global benchmark for commodities, up 1.3 percent.