KARACHI, Sept 28: Cotton market on Saturday ended on a firm note as leading spinners and mills tried to grab the floating stock of quality lint from the central Sindh ginneries at the prevailing prices.

And in the process prices tended further higher as some of the deals in the central Sindh fine varieties were finalized as higher as Rs2,050 per maund well above their counterpart from the central Punjab, which were available at a discount of Rs25 to Rs50 per maund.

Floor brokers said the market was in the grip of conflicting rumours. Some attribute the strong mill demand to reports of a short crop, while others say it is a quality war between the spinners.

Whatever the reasons behind strong mill buying, their strong presence has stabilized market above the Rs2,000 per maund mark and some broker predict the rise above this level in the coming weeks.

Cotton analysts said in the absence of private sector cotton exporters, the current price flare-up reflected a war of wits among the end-product users, notably spinners and mills.

As far as fresh export of lint cotton is concerned it may not be competitive owing to volatile performance of the New York cotton futures and a near-slump in world prices.

“The lint is now more cheaper on the world markets than the local one and that is why the export factor in boosting the prices appears to be irrelevant,” they added.

This fact is also reflected in the lint export figure during the first two months of the current year at 28,614 bales, although unlike the previous year because of disruption in export owing to attack on Afghanistan, the situation is normal, they said.

Reported pest attack in some of the areas in the Punjab cotton belt, rumours of an expected pressure on the future supplies of quality lint and below target cotton production are some of the factors fuelling the current increase in prices.

It was perhaps in this background that the official spot rates were further raised by Rs10 per maund to Rs1,980.

New York cotton futures also recovered from the recent lows and rose by 0.60 and 0.56 cents per lb at 42.30 and 44.34 cents for both the ruling October and the forward December settlements, respectively.

Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening about 10,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH TYPE: 200 bales of Shahdadpur at Rs2,025 and 400 bales at Rs2,000; 400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,000; 200 bales, Tando Allahyar at Rs1,970; 200 bales, Nayabad at Rs2,000; 200 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,030 and 1,000 bales at Rs2,050; 200 bales, Jam Datta at Rs2,000; and 200 bales from Khidro at Rs2,020.