NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Cotton futures ended lower
Wednesday on follow-through speculative liquidation as worries
over global economic health continued to hound fiber contracts,
brokers said.

Cotton market players digested news the U.S. Federal
Reserve embraced further monetary easing by extending the
average maturity of its security holdings.

Traders said the market barely reacted because the news hit
only a few minutes before cotton trading ended at 2:30 p.m. EDT
(1830 GMT).

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
dropped 2.58 cents, or nearly 2.5 percent, to end at $1.0283 a
lb, trading from $1.0275 to $1.0656.

Total volume traded on Wednesday hit almost 14,500 lots,
about a fifth above the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson
Reuters data showed.

'It looks like the specs needed to lighten up a it,' said
Sharon Johnson, senior cotton expert at commodities brokerage
Penson Futures.

Once the December contract fell below the 50-day moving
average at $1.0445, the market saw a fresh round of investor
selling.

The market will turn its attention now to the U.S.
Agriculture Department's weekly export sales report tomorrow to
see if there are any further cancellations of U.S. cotton sales
given the weak economic environment.

Now that the December contract has probed the area near
$1.03, traders said the market's momentum may depress fiber
contracts and lead to a probe of the region at $1.01/lb and
then the psychological $1 level.

Total volume traded Tuesday in the cotton market reached
12,893 lots, versus the previous session's count at 21,690
lots, ICE Futures U.S. data showed.

Open interest stood at 150,007 lots as of Sept. 20, which
is the lowest level since Sept. 6 and compared to the prior
tally of 151,586 lots, the exchange said.