NEW YORK, Oct 8: Cotton futures finished lower Friday for the first time in 5 sessions, weighed down by light investor sales as traders looked toward release of a key government crop report next week, analysts said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 0.75 cent to end at $1.0198 per lb, trading from $1.0135 to $1.064. The market has traded in a rough band from 98 cents to $1.04 for the last 11 sessions.

Total volume traded Friday hit almost 6,300 lots, more than 50 per cent below the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. Total volume traded Thursday in the cotton market reached 8,606 lots, the lowest amount traded since Sept 16, ICE futures US data showed.

Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst at commodities brokerage Penson Futures in Atlanta, said some profit-taking and weak outside markets pressured cotton.

She said players were probably also tweaking positions before the US Agriculture Department releases its monthly supply/demand report on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).

Traders said the cotton market must break out of its trading range and close either below or above its trading band to set a new direction for fiber contracts.—Reuters