July 20, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1423

KARACHI, July 19: Aggressive local sales by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan continued to affect physical trading on cotton market on Friday as spinners remained busy completing the procedural formalities before taking delivery of lots purchased in the recent tender.

According to spinners some of the leading spinners managed to match the TCP’s benchmark price and purchased 12,000 bales, 2,000 bales at Rs1,902, and 10,000 bales, of fine type between Rs1,915 and Rs1,970.

The TCP has also asked the foreign buyers to further raise their bid prices and indicated to them to sell about 94,000 bales, around 40 cents to the bidders in its recent tender for them, they added.

Floor brokers said the TCP seemed to be out to sell its unsold stocks for no apparent financial compulsions at the lower levels, but a little restraint could fetch it a much better price.

“The world price outlook is changing rapidly owing to prevailing confusion about the world supplies and consumption,” they said, adding “the current speculative squeeze on the New York cotton futures could push prices to any highs in the coming weeks and the TCP can get the maximum benefit.”

The New York cotton futures over the last two sessions have risen beyond their limit-gains after passing through a brief technical correction and now are eyeing the levelly beyond 50 cents per lb.

Both the ruling October and the forward December settlements were quoted at 46.94 and 48.54 cents per lb, up 1.84 and 2.00 cents per lb, respectively.

Pakistani being a short and medium staple lengths is generally sold at a discount of five cents per lb as compared to long staple fibre varieties of the US and Egypt.

The current foreign bids against the TCP’s recent tender are said be slightly above the 36 cents per lb level, which is too low as compared to world ruling prices.

Meanwhile, some spinners who did not participate in the TCP tender purchased modest lots of the new crop but the current crop lots were neglected for no apparent reason.

Official spot rates again remained pegged at the last close in the absence of any fresh deal in the current crop lint. Phutti is claimed to be selling at the official rate of Rs800 per 40kg in the lower Sindh cotton belt.

Ready business was slack and confined to 1,000 bales of new crop as under: 900 bales of Sultanabad at Rs1,700 and 100 bales, based on Sindh phutti, Burewala at Rs1,850.