* Market in consolidation mode as March eyes expiry
* Dealings slow as trade awaits leads

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Cotton futures ended with
small gains Monday as steady mill buying supported contracts and
the pace of purchases should continue to keep the market
supported, analysts said.
Benchmark May cotton on ICE Futures U.S. gained 0.52
cents to finish at 90.67 cents per lb, trading from 89.74 to
91.34 cents. The market was well supported above last week's low
near 89 cents.
Spot March cotton went up 0.55 cent to settle at
90.40 cents per lb. The March contract will expire on March 8.
Volume traded Monday stood near 13,000 lots, preliminary
Thomson Reuters data showed.
Mike Stevens, an independent analyst in Louisiana, said
cotton values have declined "to a level where business is going
on" and this seems enough to keep values from falling out of
bed.
The market took note of news that cotton speculators reduced
for the third week running the net long position by 1,005 lots
in the market to 2,170 contracts.
The market will be looking toward the release on Thursday of
the weekly export sales report to gauge if fiber demand will
remain robust.
Last week, the U.S. Agriculture Department showed weekly
cotton export sales of 185,200 running bales (RBs, 500-lbs
each). Cotton export shipments were robust at 326,200 RBs, which
exceeds the average amount needed to meet USDA's current
projections for the 2011/12 crop year.
Open interest in cotton, an indicator of investor exposure,
rose slightly to 171,093 lots as of Feb. 24, from the previous
session's 170,057 lots as of Feb. 23, ICE Futures U.S. data
showed.