Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures rebounded from two days of declines to rise nearly 2 percent on Thursday, their most in a month, as speculators returned to support the market despite sharply lower export numbers for the fiber.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed all upland export sales of cotton at 27,100 bales last week, which traders said was a marketing year low for the 2013/14 crop.

The exports were 62 percent down when compared to USDA data released the previous week, and 87 percent lower from the prior four-week average.

China canceled orders for 22,600 bales of U.S. cotton for the week in review, while Turkey cut almost 6,700 bales, making up the bulk of the deficit.

"Any market supported by speculators despite bearish news like this isn't fundamentally sound," said Keith Brown, cotton broker at Keith Brown & Co in Moultrie, Georgia.

"I think cotton is signaling to us that whatever the economic forces are, she's not ready to go down."

The most-active May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled up 1.44 cents, or 1.7 percent, at 87.81 cents a lb. The session high was 88.18 cents.

May cotton fell 3 percent in total over the past two sessions, retreating from a six-month high set early this week.

Trading volumes on Thursday were about 30 percent below the 30-day average, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Cotton was one of the better-performing commodities of 2013, gaining 13 percent mostly on a November-December rally, after a pickup in U.S. sales cut sharply into inventories.

The market had started out strongly again this year, rising 6 percent year-to-date before turning volatile. At Thursday's close, it was up 4 percent on the year. (Reporting by Barani Krishnan; Editing by Marguerita Choy)