* July cotton sets new 5-week high above 95 cents/lb
* Market awaits USDA April crop report due May 9
May 2 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures closed higher on Friday after hitting a five-week high, spurred by stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data for April, although traders remained wary of government crop data due out in a week.
The most-active July cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled up 0.12 cent at 94.32 cents a lb. The peak for the day, 95.10 cents, was the highest for the contract since March 26.
Cotton futures were up 1.1 percent on the week, their third straight weekly gain.
Data showed U.S. jobs growth in April picked up at its fastest pace in more than two years, suggesting a sharp rebound in economic activity early in the second quarter. The news was dampened, however, by a sharp increase in the number of people dropping out of the labor force.
The cotton market gained almost 2 percent on Tuesday alone and had a steady upward trajectory through most of the week even though many in the business were attending the annual American Cotton Shippers Association conference.
Still, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to release monthly crop data for April on May 9, some were bracing for market activity to be restrained in the coming sessions.
"The April job numbers certainly helped today's prices. But the USDA has been known to completely surprise the cotton market in the past and that's what people will be wary of next week," said Keith Brown, cotton broker at Keith Brown & Co in Moultrie, Georgia.
Concerns over tight U.S. supplies sent cotton to two-year highs around 97 cents a lb last month after farmers in the world's biggest exporter produced fewer bales than forecast.
Farmers across 15 states had planted 13 percent of forecast acres by the week ended April 27, compared with a five-year average of 18 percent for the period.
Weekly export data on Thursday showed that net sales of all upland U.S. cotton at 31,400 bales were down 75 percent from the previous week and 48 percent lower than the average of the previous four weeks. (Editing by Peter Galloway)
