NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled higher
Tuesday on investor short-covering as the market rebounded from
an early fall to a 15-month low, and analysts said the market
should consolidate in the days ahead.

The key March cotton futures rose 1.40 cents, or 1.5
percent, to end at 92.75 cents per lb, near the top end of its
88.50 to 92.94 cents band.

The session low in March of 88.50 cents is the lowest
intra-day level for cotton's second position contract since the
start of September 2010, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Total volume traded Tuesday was over 17,600 lots, a quarter
under the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data
showed.

Jobe Moss, an analyst for brokers and merchants MCM Inc. in
Lubbock, Texas, said cotton broke down early on follow-through
investor sales stemming from Monday's weak close.

'It (cotton) came right back,' said Moss, adding the charge
was led by speculators piling back into fiber contracts after
March held its session lows. 'The market was overdone to the
downside.'

Moss now believes the March cotton contract has enough
momentum to make a probe of 94 cents.

Traders said cotton futures has been supported by buying
from China, the world's top producer and consumer of cotton,
over the past few weeks.

In the last three weeks, the U.S. Agriculture Department's
weekly export sales report said China has bought over 2.3
million running bales (500-lbs each) as it replenished state
stocks which have been run down to keep domestic prices
stable.

Open interest in the cotton market, usually taken as an
indicator of investor exposure in the market, stood at 136,573
lots as of Monday, from the prior session's tally of 137,009
lots, exchange data showed.

Total volume traded Monday in the market reached 12,078
lots, from the previous tally of 8,547 lots, ICE futures U.S.
data said.