ICE cotton up in tight range trade amid U.S.-China dispute worries

    June 21 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures settled up in narrow
range trading on Thursday, as investors remained cautious after
a sharp selloff earlier in the week amid worries of a trade war
between the United States and China - the world's biggest cotton
exporter and top consumer, respectively.
    * The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the
third-month December contract              , settled up 0.11
cent, or 0.13 percent, at 84.29 cents per lb. It traded within a
range of 84.13 and 85.14 cents a lb.
    * The market is trying to find a new level of support after
it
dropped off pretty sharply earlier this week, analysts said,
adding people are waiting to see what happens next in the trade
dispute between United States and China. 
    * Cotton futures        fell nearly 10 percent in three
sessions
from Friday to Tuesday as concerns about an escalation in the
trade conflict sparked a selloff.              
    * China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday accused the United
States
of being "capricious" over bilateral trade issues, and warned
that the interests of U.S. workers and farmers ultimately will
be hurt by Washington's penchant for brandishing "big sticks."
            
    * "Starting to see some consolidation from the drop late
last
week/early this week... Test of the 100-day moving average for
December is going to be an important level, along with next
week's acreage number" from USDA, said Jon Marcus, president of
the Lakefront Futures and Options brokerage firm in Chicago. 
    * The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday
reported
exports of 312,800 running bales (RB) for the week of June 14
were down 32 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from
the prior four-week average.
    * The USDA also reported net upland sales reductions of
112,400 RB
for 2017-18 and net sales of 295,400 RB for 2018-19 for the same
period.             
    * Total futures market volume fell by 14,537 to 22,217 lots.
Data
showed total open interest fell 7,020 to 265,826 contracts in
the previous session.
    * Certificated cotton stocks CERT-COT-STX deliverable as
of June
20 totaled 85,439 480-lb bales, up from 84,976 in the previous
session.


 (Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru, editing by G
Crosse)