NEW YORK: ICE cotton dipped by more than 1% on Thursday, with negative sentiment across major US markets and Chicago grain futures combining to snap a four session-long winning streak.

Cotton contracts for December fell 0.82 cent, or 0.9%, to 86.81 cents per lb, at 13:05 a.m. EDT (1705 GMT), having dropped as much as 1.5% earlier.

A general risk-off sentiment in most markets, including commodities like grains, is impacting cotton, said Jordan Lea, senior trader at DECA Global.

Chicago soybean futures were mixed, pressured by cool, rainy forecasts across the US growing belt, though dryness in the upper Midwest continues to threaten developing crops. Corn and wheat futures also eased.

“Business is robust and good, but there’s definitely some quiet anxiety about the Delta variant,” Lea said.

Wall Street’s main indexes fell as the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant cast doubts over an economic recovery, while a rout in Chinese tech stocks appeared to have spilled across markets.

Total futures market volume fell by 6,936 to 11,154 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,390 to 223,639 contracts in the previous session.

Investors are awaiting the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) weekly exports sales report on Friday.