NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Cotton futures ended with
small gains on Friday on trade buying as the market finished
its third week within a trading band with no sign of a breakout
next week, analysts said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
rose 0.38 cent to end at $1.0194 per lb, trading from $1.0108
to $1.0365. The market has traded in a band from 98 cents to
$1.04 for three weeks.

For the week, the market is barely changed from its close
last week at $1.0198.

Total volume on Friday was more than 9,900 lots, about a
quarter under the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data
showed.

Mike Stevens, an independent analyst in Mandeville,
Louisiana, said cotton worked its way to the session high on
suspected mill buying, but the momentum from that move quickly
faded.

'It just fizzled,' he said.

Cotton futures may have derived some encouragement from
stronger stock prices and a weaker dollar as investor moods
brightened that Europe is on track to resolve its festering
debt crisis. U.S. retail sales also grew 1.1 percent in
September, the fastest pace in 7 months.

Analysts said the market seems to show solid support
anytime it falls toward $1 but investors have shown little
inclination to push the December contract past $1.04.

Open interest in cotton, usually taken as an indicator of
investor exposure, stood at 153,893 lots as of Oct 13, from
153,707 lots on Oct 12, the exchange said.

Total volume traded Thursday in the cotton market reached
14,489 lots, against the prior tally of 18,352 lots, ICE
futures U.S. data showed.