July 17 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures gained more than 1% on Monday as hot and dry weather in key growing region sparked production concerns, while positive sentiment in the grain markets also helped the natural fiber.
* The most-active December cotton contract CTz3 rose 1.22 cents, or 1.5%, to 82.4 cents per lb by 11:53 a.m. EDT (1553 GMT). It traded in a range of 81.01 and 82.55 cents a lb.
* The weather is heating up the western plains and that is not good for the production potential, Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group, said, adding that the market was also seeing a little bit better demand.
* In the wider agriculture markets, Chicago wheat futures rose after Russia withdrew from the agreement for a wartime safe shipping channel for Ukraine's grain exports. GRA/
* Speculators trimmed net short position by 9,750 contracts to 663 in the week to July 11, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.
* The S&P 500 and the Dow edged up as investors awaited quarterly results from industry heavyweights through the week, while Apple and Tesla boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq. .N
* Elsewhere, India's cotton area was down 5% at 9.5 million hectares, data showed on Friday.
Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar