NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled mixed
Wednesday in a quietly traded session as players awaited
release of a government sales report to see if top consumer
China again bought large amounts of cotton, analysts said.

The spot December cotton contract on ICE Futures
U.S. increased 0.84 cent to finish at $1.035 per lb, moving
from $1.0207 to $1.0436. It was an inside day since the range
was within Tuesday's $1.0011 to $1.0469 band.

The now most-active March cotton futures fell 0.14
cent to settle at $1.0048 a lb, ranging from 98.45 cents to
$1.0088.

Total volume traded Wednesday hit almost 19,500 lots, less
than 3 percent below the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson
Reuters data showed.

'We're holding near the top end of the 10-cents trading
range,' said Mike Stevens, an independent cotton analyst in
Louisiana.

The December contract has been moving in a wide band from
the October top of $1.0505 and down to the November low of
95.96 cents.

Analysts said players are now unwinding positions before
going into first notice day for deliveries next week.

Trade is now looking toward release of the U.S. Agriculture
Department's weekly export sales report on Thursday to see if
China will be a major buyer of cotton.

In last week's report, USDA said China bought 996,100
running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each) of cotton.

Stevens said there may be 'some residual business' by the
Chinese, but it probably will not be as large as in last week's
USDA report.

Open interest in cotton, usually taken as an indicator of
investor exposure in cotton, stood at 143,259 lots as of Nov
15, from the prior tally of 146,914 lots, exchange data
showed.

Total volume traded Tuesday in the cotton market reached
57,321 lots, the highest level traded since Feb 18, ICE futures
U.S. data said.