NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures edged lower on Friday due to a stronger dollar, although a recent bullish federal export sales report and hopes for higher demand kept the natural fiber on track for its second straight weekly rise.

The cotton contract for March was down 0.15 cent, or 0.2%, at 77.04 cents per lb by 11:35 a.m. EST (1635 GMT). It traded within a range of 76.85 and 77.4 cents a lb.

The contract is up more than 4% so far this week.

"The cotton market is strictly following the dollar today," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland.

Supporting cotton, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly export sales report on Thursday showed net sales of 402,900 running bales for 2020/2021, up 4% from the previous week and 44% from the prior four-week average.

Positive news on coronavirus vaccines, along with hopes for more US economic stimulus and its likely boost to demand for cotton lifted prices to their highest since April 2019 in the previous session.

Total futures market volume fell by 20,044 to 11,308 lots.

Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Dec. 17 totaled 78,031 480-lb bales, down from 79,352 in the previous session.