November 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 6, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 11: Cotton market showed firm trend on Monday as pent-up mill demand turned into panic buying by the mid-session, pushing prices modestly higher from the previous close.

“Big-lot business was the hallmark of the day’s trading as leading spinner groups tried to grab the floating stock of lint irrespective of the asking prices”, a leading broker Adil Naseem said.

Over 20,000 bales changed hands just in one go as the market reopened after two closures and till the evening there was a virtual rush of fresh enquiries, he said.

There is no immediate bullish reason behind the panic mill buying and it appears to be the outcome of pent-up demand as spinners holding long positions rush to cover them at the current levels.

The interesting feature was that most of the deals were finalized between Rs2,100 and 2,150, which reflects that spinners managed to set the price trend and contained below the Rs2,200 per maund mark, dealers said.

They said as fears of a short crop as speculated earlier are allayed, the current heavy mill buying may have been prompted by quality factors.

“The big-lot business and the fact that there was a scramble for the Punjab lint shows essentially, it is quality war”, they said adding “it is a positive development both for the grower and the ginner”.

Being short-staple, the lower and central Sindh variety was neglected for the fourth session in a row as spinners and mills are inclined to build-up long positions in the Punjab variety, notably from the southern cotton belt.

The official spot rates were again held unchanged at the weekend levels but in physical trading bulk of the business was done above them.

Ready offtake was large totalling over 20,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 600 bales, Rohri and 400 bales, Dharki at Rs2,150.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 4,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,100 to 2,150, 1,500 bales, Lodharan at Rs2,125 to 2,150, 200 bales, Multan at Rs2,100, 1,500 Sahiwal at Rs2,070, 500 bales, Kasowal at Rs2,125, 400 bales, Jehania at Rs2,125, 1,500 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,100, 1,400 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs2,150, 1,200 bales, Jalalpur at Rs2,100, 1,500 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,150, 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,150, 200 bales, Depalpur at Rs2,100, 400 bales, Moongi Bungla at Rs2,100, 200 bales, Gojra at Rs2,100, 500 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs2,150 and 1,200 bales and Sahiwal at Rs2,060 to 2,115.