March 12 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures jumped more than 2
percent to a near three-month high on Tuesday, as investors bid
up the natural fiber in anticipation of a possible trade deal
between the United States and China, while a weaker dollar
provided further support.
* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the
May
contract , settled up 1.65 cents, or 2.25 percent, at
74.85 cents per lb.
* The front-month contract hit its highest level
since Dec.
21 at 75.00 cents per lb.
* "Cotton is higher on optimism regarding U.S.-China trade
talks
and rumors of recent strong export sales of U.S. cotton," said
Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at
Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group.
* "These factors likely are forcing some spec
short-covering,"
Rose said.
* The United States and China may be in the final weeks of
talks
to hammer out a deal and an agreement will open up a lot of
agricultural sales, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
said.
* The United States is the world's biggest cotton exporter,
while
China is the top consumer.
* The dollar index was down 0.3 percent, lending
further
support to cotton prices.
* A weaker greenback makes commodities priced in dollars,
such as
cotton, less expensive for holders of other currencies.
* Total futures market volume rose by 20,888 to 41,458 lots.
Data
showed total open interest gained 1,255 to 221,092 contracts in
the previous session.
* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as
of
March 11 totaled 112,228 480-lb bales, down from 123,219 in the
previous session.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Cooney)