Feb 25 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures settled higher on Monday as investors bid for the natural fiber in anticipation of a possible trade deal between the United States and China.

* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the May

contract , settled up 0.09 cent, or 0.12 percent, at 73.1

cents per lb.

* The contract traded within a range of 72.86 and 73.81 cents per lb.

* Cotton was higher on the optimism around the U.S.China trade talks, said Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group, adding, "a trade agreement will probably be worked out because both China and U.S. need it."

* U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay a planned hike in tariffs on Chinese imports and that he was "very, very close" on a trade deal.

* On Monday, Trump also said he was optimistic that a final trade deal could be reached with China and that he would hold a summit to sign any pact, but cautioned an agreement may still not happen. Cotton prices fell about 8.2 percent in 2018, the first yearly decline in four years, largely due to the trade tussle between top exporter the United States and China, the biggest consumer of the natural fiber.

* "There is strong support near 71.00 cents and strong resistance near 76.0077.00 cents," Rose added.

* Total futures market volume fell by 26,558 to 16,751 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,512 to 219,105 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of Feb. 22 totaled 127,974 480-lb bales, up from 127,973 in the previous session.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)