NEW YORK, Dec 4: NY cotton futures finished sharply lower on Monday on speculative sales and long liquidation as the market corrected after ending last Friday near a three-month high.

The locals jumped out of their longs, Frank Weathersby of brokers Affinity Trading in Destin, Florida, said.

Cotton futures have staged a robust rally after sinking last month to its worst level since 1972 as speculative short-covering and robust US cotton exports were used by operators as a springboard to drive futures higher.

December cotton tumbled 1.89 cents to close at the session trough of 35.41 cents a lb. The intra-day peak was at 37 cents.

Friday, the contract rose 0.60 cent to finish at 37.30 cents in the highest close for the market on a spot continuation basis since Sept. 5, when the then front contract settled at 37.10 cents.

Benchmark March sank 1.53 cents to finish at 37.74 cents, moving from 37.67-38.60 cents.

Distant months lost 1.20-1.56 cents.

Cotton lost ground from the start after speculators bailed and locals who went home overly long last Friday cashed in their gains, floor sources said.

Traders said news the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) raised its estimated ending stocks to 45.5 million (480-lb) bales in 2001-02 from 43.7m added to the selling pressure felt by the market.

Technicians said they calculated support in the March cotton contract at 37.40 cents while resistance would be at 39 and in layers to 40.50 cents.

Volume traded reached some 10,000 lots against the previous 19,552 lots.—Reuters