* Early buying wanes after prices hit fresh Oct high

* Market braced for Fed's 2-day policy meeting

Dec 17 (Reuters) - ICE cotton prices eased off two-month highs on Tuesday and ended five days of gains as merchants and farmers sold fibers and some speculative traders locked in profits.

The market extended recent gains early on, but buying interest petered out midmorning after prices reached fresh October highs of 83.72 cents per lb.

The most-active March cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled at 82.95 cents per lb, down 0.43 cent, or 0.5 percent. Prices

Volumes were relatively low, with just over 9,200 lots of March contracts traded on the day.

"There was some farmer and merchant selling and maybe some of the specs decided to sell too," said a U.S. broker.

Concerns about nearby availability has pushed prices higher, reigniting speculative investors' appetite for fibers. Exchange stocks fell again on Monday to 48,499 bales, their lowest since mid-October and down from 57,533 on Friday.

Reflecting the perception of tightness, the March premium over May futures was 37 cents, its highest in three months.

The broader commodity market was braced for the results of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting that started on Tuesday, with investors waiting for possible signals on when the U.S. central bank may start winding down its massive stimulus program. (Reporting by Josephine Mason; editing by Andrew Hay)