Sept 19 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures rose more than 2% on Thursday, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and upbeat sentiment in wider financial and commodity markets following a bumper 50-basis-point (bps) rate cut from the U.S. central bank.
* Cotton contracts for December CTZ4 was up 1.62 cents, or 2.3%, to 72.89 cents per lb at 11:50 a.m. EDT (1550 GMT).
* "The underlying tone is that we are moving to a paradigm of rising interest rates to declining interest rates. The dollar could get cheaper and enhance exports," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton broker Keith Brown and Co in Georgia.
* "We're about to come up here and make a new high for this move, so the technicals are kind of taking over and we are going to trade higher around $0.76 for December contract."
* The dollar =USD was down 0.3% to hover near a more than one-year low against its rivals, making cotton less expensive for other currency holders. USD/
* Wall Street rallied on Thursday, while oil prices climbed after the Federal Reserve kicked off its easing cycle with half-a-percentage point reduction. .N O/R
* Higher oil prices make cotton-substitute polyester more expensive.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly exports sales data showed net sales of upland totaling 106,800 running bales of cotton for 2024/2025, down 8% from the previous week and 23% from the prior 4-week average.
* However, data showed exports of 130,000 running bales, up 9% from the previous week. EXP/COT
* Elsewhere, Chicago soybean and corn futures edged down on Thursday as traders assessed dry weather risks in South America and the Black Sea region while waiting for the U.S. harvest to get into full swing. GRA/
Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore