NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures finished
lower Wednesday on investor sales and slower consumer buying as
the market saw a brief correction after jumping to its highest
levels in nearly a month, brokers said.

'All we have seen is a pause in the rally,' Mike Stevens,
an independent cotton analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana, said.
Cotton is the best performing commodity in the
Reuters-Jefferies commodity index, up over 75 percent year to
date.

(Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/kew48n)

The key March cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
dropped 2.35 cents to end at $1.4214 per lb, dealing from
$1.4106 to $1.457.

Volume was running below the average, with the total
estimated at 19,000 lots, about a quarter below the 30-day
average at 33,200 lots, Thomson Reuters preliminary data
showed.

Cotton values in top consumer China also trekked lower as
well, with the May cotton futures last done at 27,395
yuan per tonne, down 570 yuan on the day.

Since trading at $1.1085 on Nov. 23, U.S. cotton prices
have taken off largely on sustained mill buying from countries
such as China.

'The market was becoming over-extended,' said Stevens.
'Hopes for a corrective dip are predicated on March either
closing below $1.4097 or posting an outside range day to the
downside.'

On Thursday, the market will take a look at the U.S.
Agriculture Department's weekly export sales report to see if
the rally can begin to ration demand in the market.

Cotton brokers estimate total U.S. cotton sales will range
from 300,000 to 400,000 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs each), from
436,600 RBs in last week's government report.