* Market steadier on spec buying
* Players await USDA supply report

NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - Cotton futures finished marginally higher
Monday on light speculative buying as players adjusted positions before the
release of a government crop report this week, analysts said.

The benchmark December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. rose 0.07
cent to finish at 70.69 cents per lb, dealing from 70.35 to 72.60 cents.

Volume traded on Monday stood at almost 10,500 lots, almost two-thirds under
the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.

"We're stuck in this narrow range of 70 to 72.50 cents (basis December),"
said independent cotton analyst Mike Stevens in Mandeville, Louisiana.

He added that cash activity was subdued for the most part with only a few
weeks left before the end of the 2011/12 marketing year (August/July).

The steadiness in cotton futures seemed more to be "related to (soy)beans
and corn (futures) going through the roof," said Stevens.

Market players took note that a rival trader has sued Louis Dreyfus, the
world's biggest cotton trader, for illegally cornering the cotton market during
the July cotton contract's run to deliveries last month.

Traders awaited Wednesday's U.S. Agriculture Department monthly
supply/demand report.

Open interest in the cotton market, an indicator of investor interest,
amounted to 166,334 lots as of July 6, the exchange said.

Volume traded on Friday stood at 9,155 lots, the lowest since late December
2011, ICE Futures U.S. data showed.