* Prices reverse from one-week high of 89.57 cents/lb
* Investors less skittish on Ukraine, slow commodity buys
* Cotton falls in range-bound trade, support near 14-day MA
NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - Cotton futures eased from a one-week high on Wednesday and gave back some of the week's earlier gains as the momentum of a speculator-driven rally slowed.
The benchmark May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. closed down 0.61 cent, or 0.7 percent, at 88.61 cents a lb after earlier climbing to 89.57 cents.
Fiber's performance was largely in line with the broader commodities sector, as most of the 19 components of the bellwether Reuters/Core Commodity CRB index fell.
Investors dialed back their buying of commodities as concerns eased over tension in Ukraine. Global equities markets calmed after two days of wild swings.
The momentum of fresh buying in the cotton market met further resistance as the second-month cotton climbed toward last week's high of 90.44 cents a lb, the strongest level since August.
"There's been a lack of follow-through buying. It's been the speculators propping up some of these markets," said Michael Smith, president of T&K Futures and Options in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.
Prices remained rangebound throughout the session, with the May contract falling near support at 14-day moving average of 88.22 cents a lb.
U.S. government export data due on Thursday was largely expected to show that recent high prices continued to crimp demand for cotton in the world's top exporter.
Even so, the pace of export sales this season has prompted expectations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will lower a forecast for U.S. inventories by the end of July 2014 when its monthly supply-demand report is released next Monday.
Mill fixations and merchant short-covering continued to underpin prices.
Traders eyed changes in government policies in top consumer China, as expectations have mounted that the government will cut its selling prices for bales in a bid to whittle down behemoth state reserves.
Beijing has said it will move to a crop-subsidy program as it looks to overhaul the controversial stockpiling program launched in 2011. (Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Jonathan Oatis )
