Jan 17 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures climbed to a more than one-month high on Wednesday as market sentiment got a boost from stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales, while the spotlight shifted to export sales data due on Friday.

* Cotton contracts for March CTc1 up 0.38 cent, or 0.5%, to 81.71 cents per lb by 12:12 p.m. ET (1712 GMT). Earlier, prices gained as much as 1.4% to 82.45 cents a lb, their highest since Dec. 11.

* "The U.S. economic data was considered fairly positive today," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group, but added that a stronger dollar was capping gains.

* U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in December, data showed. Clothing store sales jumped 1.5%.

* The dollar hit a fresh one-month high, making U.S. cotton more expensive for overseas buyers. USD/

* Meanwhile, separate data showed China's economy grew 5.2% in 2023, slightly more than the official target, but the recovery was far shakier than many analysts and investors expected.

* "There's some hope that when the export sales come out on Friday, it'll show good demand from China again," Scoville said.

* Traders awaited the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales data due on Friday, a day late than usual due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Jan. 15.

* Export data has stayed strong above 200,000 bales in the last four reports, hovering close to the marketing-year record of 231,000 bales hit in the week of Dec. 21. EXP/COT

* In the grains market, Chicago soybeans eased back towards a two-year low on contrasting assessments of South American crops, while wheat edged up from a seven-week low as a clutch of import tenders boosted international demand. GRA/

Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta