* Sales exports highest in two months

* Texas gets more rain, spurring expectations of bumper U.S. crop

NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - ICE cotton eked out small gains on Thursday as solid U.S. export sales data for the upcoming season spurred hopes that stronger export demand will help trim an expected hefty surplus as farmers grow a bumper crop.

The benchmark December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled at 67.65 cents per lb, up just 0.1 cent from Wednesday. It reached an intraday high of 68.08 cents, but remained close to multi-year lows hit over the past week as the market braced for a big surplus next season.

Big planting acreage and favorable weather have led to forecasts of a bumper crop.

Turnover was low with just under 10,200 lots of December contracts changing hands on the day.

Export sales data for the 2014/15 season starting on Aug. 1 released on Thursday showed almost 350,000 bales had been sold, with Turkey accounting for just under half of the total, the strongest sign yet that plunging prices have revived demand from foreign mills.

The total was up from 203,000 bales in the previous week and was the highest weekly total since mid-May, when almost 360,000 bales were sold for the current 2013/14 year.

Gains were limited by decent rains in Texas, the world's biggest growing state.

"Current weather signals and a lack of a compelling bullish narrative may keep the market muted until the strong U.S. export sales prove themselves to be a pattern rather than merely a first crack at lower prices," said INTL FCStone analysts.

The small gains came as wheat surged 2.4 percent, rallying from a recent four-year low, on fears of escalating geopolitical tension in the Black Sea region after a Malaysian airliner was downed in eastern Ukraine, traders said. (Reporting by Josephine Mason; Editing by Dan Grebler)