Feb 4 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures slipped on Monday, touching their lowest level in nearly three weeks during the session, hurt by a stronger dollar and uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade deal.
* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. - the March
contract - fell 0.69 cent, or 0.94 percent, at 72.95
cents per lb. by 01:25 p.m. ET (1825 GMT).
* The front-month contract touched its lowest since Jan. 16 at 72.66 cents.
* “Dollar is staying strong, that’s the reason for cotton trading lower today,” said Jon Marcus, president of the Lakefront Futures and Options brokerage firm in Chicago, adding that the unresolved trade dispute between U.S.-China was also weighing on the prices.
* The U.S. dollar was broadly stronger on Monday, as investors took heart from Friday’s strong payroll number and improved risk appetite helped lift the greenback.
* The dollar index was up 0.3 percent. A stronger greenback makes commodities priced in dollar, such as cotton, more expensive for holders of other currencies.
* White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Monday said “there’s still a lot of work to do” in China trade talks. A U.S. trade delegation will visit China in mid-February for a new round of talks.
* Cotton prices marked their first yearly decline in four years in 2018, largely due to the trade tussle between top exporter the United States and China, the biggest consumer of the natural fiber.
* Total futures market volume fell by 3,649 to 34,567 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 3,089 to 238,074 contracts in the previous session.
* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of Feb. 01 totaled 122,205 480-lb bales, up from 117,138 in the previous session.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)