Oct 1 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures slipped on Tuesday as demand stayed weak and the U.S. dollar's rise to a two-week high made the natural fibre more expensive for foreign buyers.

* Cotton contracts for December CTZ4 lost 0.54 cent, or 0.7%, to 73.07 cents per lb at 11:51 a.m. EDT (1632 GMT).

* The dollar index .DXY rose 0.5%.

* The dollar has broken out of a 2-1/2-week trading range and looks set to rise, which isn't good for cotton, said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland.

* Demand remains slow, keeping the market balanced around 73-74 cents, with a top side near 76 cents and a bottom near 70, Varner added.

* Dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast began a strike early on Tuesday, their first large-scale stoppage in nearly 50 years, halting the flow of about half the nation's ocean shipping after negotiations for a new labor contract broke down over wages.

* "I think the impact would be temporary. But if the strike does happen, especially tonight if there is some sort of deadline looming, it would be a negative factor and could keep cotton prices pinned down," Varner said.

* Meanwhile, downbeat sentiment on Wall Street, where the main indexes slid, spilled over into the cotton market. .N

* In a weekly crop progress report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said 31% of the cotton crop was in good-to-excellent condition, compared with 37% a week ago.

* Chicago corn futures declined after reaching a three-month high in the previous session, when a U.S. government estimate of corn stockpiles fell short of trade expectations, triggering a rush of short-covering. Soybean and wheat futures also fell on Tuesday. GTA/

Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath