NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures finished mixed Friday
as the market appeared to be stabilizing after a savage sell-off in the
commodity sector over the last few sessions, analysts said.

'Cotton's trying to hold its own,' said Mike Stevens, an independent
cotton analyst in Louisiana. 'It's stabilizing, but the interest on a
Friday is at a very low level.'

The key July cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. fell 1.30 cents
to settle at $1.4556 per lb, trading from $1.438 to $1.491. It was the
lowest close for cotton in almost four months, Thomson Reuters data
showed.

The new-crop December cotton futures rose 0.21 cent to close at
$1.2229 cents per lb.

Volume traded stood at almost 12,000 lots, around 50 percent below the
30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.

Traders said investors were unwinding positions in the benchmark July
cotton contract since old crop supplies are practically gone and turning
their attention to December, against which producers will price the
upcoming 2011/12 cotton crop.

They added that consumer demand has also started showing up in the
December contract, lending support to the market.

The market will be looking for leads next week on buying intentions by
mills from China, the world's leading consumer of cotton, analysts said.

Open interest in the cotton market dropped to 148,291 lots as of May 5,
the lowest level since October 2009, from 149,172 lots in the previous
session, data from ICE Futures U.S. showed.

Volume traded in the cotton market was at 10,679 lots as of May 5,
versus the previous tally of 10,679 lots, exchange data reported.

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World stocks recovered Friday on news U.S. employers added more jobs
than expected in April, while the euro sank after German magazine Der
Spiegel reported Greece has considered exiting the euro zone.