April 25 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures rose on Tuesday, supported by mill fixations and short-covering, amid a softer U.S. dollar.

"There's been a bit of selling yesterday and today early on and then the fixation buying came in and propped it back up," said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton.

The July cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled up 0.72 percent at 79.36 cents per lb on Tuesday after declining 0.7 percent in the previous session.

"There are plenty of shorts to cover ... Every time we sell off, we run into the trade short-covering and then it props it back up."

* The July cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. settled up 0.57 cent, or 0.72 percent, at 79.36 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 77.97 and 79.41 cents a lb.
* Total futures market volume fell by 5,365 to 20,718 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,265 to 245,139 contracts in the previous session.
* The dollar index was down 0.30 percent.
* About 11 percent of plantings have been completed in 15 major cotton producing states across the United States in the week to April 23, up from 8 percent the previous week, the U.S. Agriculture Department said in a weekly report released after market close on Monday.

(Reporting by Apeksha Nair and Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru)