NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled down the daily
limit on Monday due to investor liquidation as weak outside markets and the
unrelieved gloom in the economy deflated fiber contracts, brokers said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. sank the
5.00-cent limit to close at $1.0552 per lb, with the session top at
$1.1095.

Total volume traded on Monday hit almost 21,000 lots, nearly double the
30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed.

'These things pile up on the market,' said Jobe Moss, an analyst for
brokers and merchants MCM Inc. in Lubbock, Texas, in referring to the
losses in stocks which reflect investor jitters over weak global economic
growth prospects.

The December contract has been trapped between $1.09 and $1.15 for a
week or so, but finally broke down when investors sold off stocks and
then the sour mood spilled over into the cotton market,
dealers said.

Moss said the close under $1.09, which had held as support, meant the
market may now revisit the region around $1.03 and down to $1.01, the low
end of a trading band stretching back almost two months.

Traders said they will now look toward release of the weekly crop
progress report from the U.S. Agriculture Department to gauge the condition
of the crop. The report is due out at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).

Total volume traded Friday in the cotton market reached 7,519 lots,
versus the previous session's count at 16,415 lots, ICE Futures U.S. data
showed.

Open interest stood at 155,895 lots as of Sept 16, versus the prior
tally of 155,680 lots, the exchange said.