NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled at a
14-month low Thursday on investor liquidation as nagging
worries about the euro zone debt crisis and weak fiber demand
pushed the market below a key support level, analysts said.

The December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
dropped 2.86 cents or by almost 3 percent to end at 96.86 cents
per lb, trading from 96.78 cents to $1.0004. It was the first
time in almost 4 weeks that the market broke a trading band
that had confined December in a range from 98 cents to $1.04.

It is the lowest settlement for the spot cotton contract
since September 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Total volume traded Thursday hit over 19,600 lots, more
than 40 percent above the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson
Reuters data showed.

'The market has dropped off precipitously. I think the
European thing has a role in it,' said Keith Brown, president
of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.

World stocks and the euro fell on fresh doubts that the
keenly awaited EU summit this weekend will result in a
comprehensive plan to rein in the euro zone debt crisis.

Traders said cotton futures have found it difficult to
sustain its advance beyond the $1.04 mark because the debt
crisis could further damage cotton demand if there is another
recession.

Brown said the cotton market is also being weighed 'by
(U.S. cotton) harvest pressure...and no demand.'

Open interest in cotton, usually taken as an indicator of
investor exposure in cotton, stood at 152,825 lots as of Oct
19, from 151,550 lots on Oct 18, the exchange said.

Total volume traded Wednesday in the cotton market reached
15,343 lots, against the prior tally of 19,992 lots, ICE
futures U.S. data showed.