* Selling 'vacuum' propels fiber to four-week high -trader

* ICE inventories continue climb to highest since late July

* U.S. plantings behind prior 5-year average -gov't data

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - ICE cotton vaulted to a four-week high on Tuesday, as short-covering and subdued trade selling shot prices through buy-stops.

The most-active July cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. shot as high as 94.29 cents a lb before settling up 1.83 cents, nearly 2 percent, at 94.06 cents a lb.

Rising world financial markets bolstered fiber on solid company earnings. Climbing equities often support cotton prices, as they can contribute to greater buying power for consumer goods, including apparel.

The day's gains shot the second-month contract through the ceiling of its recent trading range and triggered chart-based buying by investors.

Farmers and merchants hedged bales early this season, leaving little trade selling in the market and prices ripe for Tuesday's short-covering rally, said Ron Lawson, a partner at commodity investment firm LOGIC Advisors in California.

"There's nothing left for sale. The market was pulled higher because of a vacuum (of selling)," Lawson said, noting buy-stops above recent highs.

Concerns over tight U.S. supplies sent cotton to two-year highs around 97 cents a lb last month after farmers in the world's biggest exporter produced fewer bales than forecast.

ICE stocks rose to nearly 310,100 bales on Monday, up from 304,500 bales previously, the most recent exchange data showed.

That was the highest level since late July, according to data compiled by Reuters.

Prices were also underpinned by weekly U.S. government data released after Monday's close showed the country's farmers are behind plantings progress in previous years.

Farmers across 15 states had planted 13 percent of forecast acres by the week ended April 27, compared with a prior five-year average of 18 percent during the same period.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Diane Craft)