Jan 9 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures rose slightly on Tuesday as strength in the broader commodities market offset pressure from a firmer dollar, while traders strapped in for federal reports due later this week.

* Cotton contracts for March CTc1 rose 0.53 cent, or 0.7%, to 80.95 cents per lb by 12:36 p.m. ET (1736 GMT), their third consecutive session of gains. But prices also touched their lowest levels since Dec. 27 in the last session.

* "All the commodities are stronger today (even) with the dollar being higher... There's a little bit of a separation from the dollar being the overwhelming factor in what's making these markets tick," said Jon Marcus, president of Lakefront Futures and Options brokerage, in Chicago.

* "Prices are closer to the lows than to the highs and the bias will be to buy the stuff as it comes lower."

* Oil prices rose on the Middle East crisis and a Libyan supply outage, making cotton-substitute polyester more expensive. O/R

* Chicago soybean and corn futures steadied after hitting multi-year lows in the previous session, while robusta coffee futures headed back toward their highest levels in at least 15 years. GRA/ SOF/L

* Limiting gains for the natural fiber, the dollar rose 0.3%, which makes cotton more expensive for overseas buyers. USD/

* Traders awaited the United States Agriculture Department's weekly export sales data due on Thursday and the year's first World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due on Friday. EXP/COT USDA/EST

* "You're not hearing anything from the demand side, China's usually quiet this month going to the Lunar New Year holiday," Marcus added.

* Last week's export sales report showed net sales of 131,100 running bales for 2023/2024, down 65% from the previous week. Exports of 213,200 bales fell 8% from last week.

Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar