March 29, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 25, 1424

KARACHI, March 28: The cotton market on Friday passed through an actively traded session as spinners and leading mills made fresh commitments against their forward sales of cotton yarn.

Incidentally, bulk of the business was finalized below the high mark of Rs2,700 per muand as no spinner was inclined to test the seasonal peak level keeping in view his export parity level.

Floor brokers said ginners also seemed to have realized that their onward thrust beyond the level of Rs2,700 per maund failed to find positive response from the spinners or the mills.

Leading among the spinners are, however, willing to pay above this level on deferred payments at least for one month or 40 days, they said, adding but for the last couple of weeks, no forward deal was reported.

“Friday’s trading indicated a major shift in the spinner operations as some of them opted for central Sindh short staple variety apparently for blending purposes to keep the yarn prices competitive both on the local and foreign markets,” they said.

But quantity involved was modest totalling about 1,200 bales, while indications are that further business could be done in these varieties during the coming weeks.

As far as the fine lots, both from the upper Sindh and the southern Punjab ginneries, are concerned they were mostly done between Rs2,650 on the lower side and Rs2,675 on the higher side depending partly on the quality premiums.

Market sources said most of the leading ginners were now not inclined to hold long positions as spinners are in no mood to cross the limit of Rs2,700 per maund at least for the near-term.

However, the future price outlook will be largely set by the final crop figures due possibly by the first week of the next month, they added.

Meanwhile, cotton importers from Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia remained active buyers and purchased another 4,555 bales on March 25 and 26 for nearby shipments. The total foreign sales for both the old and the new crop up to March 26, rose to 0.163m bales.

New York cotton futures remained under pressure on speculative selling and were quoted further lower by 0.52 and 0.54 cents per lb at 56.00 and 57 cents for both the ruling May and forward July settlements, respectively.

Local spot rates were maintained at the overnight levels as most of the deals in the ready section were done in line with them. Ready offake was active as till late in the evening about 10,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH VARIETY: 400 bales, Sarari at Rs2,550; 400 bales, Kandiaro and Rasulabad at Rs2,575; 1,000 bales, Salehpat and 400 bales, Dharki at Rs2,575; and 200 bales, Mirpur Mathelo at Rs2,620.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,100 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,650; 4,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,675 and 1,000 bales at Rs2,650.