NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Cotton futures closed higher
on Monday on follow-through investor buying as the market
extended its rebound after dropping last week to a 14-month
low, analysts said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
rose 0.84 cent to close at 97.94 cents per lb, dealing from
96.96 to 98.39 cents. It was an inside day since the range was
within Friday's 96.47 to 98.80 cents band.

Last Thursday, the contract fell by almost 3 percent to end
at 96.86 cents in the lowest settlement for the spot contract
since September 2010.

It was also the first time in almost four weeks the
December contract broke a trading band ranging from 98 cents to
$1.04.

Total volume traded Monday hit over 12,000 lots, some 10
percent under the 30-day norm, preliminary Thomson Reuters data
showed.

Independent cotton analyst Mike Stevens said the inability
of the market to stay above 98 cents meant cotton will stay
near new support around 93 cents.

'It's dead in the water. It totally ignored the outside
markets,' Stevens of Mandeville, Louisiana, said.

He was alluding to cotton's muted reaction to global stocks
which hit a seven-week high on optimism European leaders were
closer to resolving their debt crisis.

Oil prices and the grains complex likewise posted strong
gains in Monday's session as part of a broad commodities
advance.

Open interest in cotton, usually taken as an indicator of
investor exposure in cotton, stood at 157,290 lots as of Oct.
21, from 156,328 lots on Oct. 20, the exchange said. Open
interest is now at its highest level since early June.

Total volume traded Friday in the cotton market reached
15,069 lots, against the prior tally of 22,529 lots, ICE
futures U.S. data showed.