* Fiber among the day's worst commodities performers
* Dealers await Wednesday's U.S. monthly supply-demand forecast
* Rains seen in key growing regions of Texas
NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Benchmark cotton futures tumbled on Monday, pressured by the rolling of closely-watched commodities index funds, bearish chart signals and worries over excess supplies.
The benchmark May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. fell 1.78 cents, or 1.9 percent, to settle at 90.62 cents a lb.
The fiber saw its biggest one-day rout in over a week, making it among the day's worst commodities performers. The Thomson Reuters Core CRB index was down as most of its 19 components fell.
Traders said negative sentiment was fed by implied weaker demand for apparel as Wall Street stocks retreated with global equities from last week's highs.
The index fund roll weighed on the most-active May cotton contract as traders moved their positions forward, and chart weakness prompted liquidation across contracts.
"There's fund selling hammering the market," said Jobe Moss, a broker with MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas, who added that prices now look "technically weak."
A rise in exchange stocks added to the pressure, as ICE inventories increased about 1,100 bales to 265,400 bales on Friday, the most since July, according to the most recent exchange data compiled by Reuters.
China's top economic planning committee set the 2014 target cotton price at 19,800 yuan ($3,200) per tonne, or about $1.45 a lb.
Beijing is scrapping a controversial stockpiling program launched in 2011 that has driven voracious demand for foreign fiber and pegged a floor under world prices.
Traders digested data last week from China that showed price cuts had stirred buying of bales from state reserves, reigniting worries over import demand in the world's top consumer.
Dealers expect a key monthly U.S. government supply-demand report due on Wednesday to show that U.S. farmers harvested fewer bales than previously forecast in the 2013/14 crop year that ends July 31.
Rains were scattered this weekend across key growing regions of Texas, raising the prospect of higher output in the top-producing state after years of dry conditions that hurt yields.
"It's not a lot, but it's a start," Moss said of the much-needed rains. (Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Alden Bentley)
