November 15, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1424

KARACHI, Nov 14: Cotton market on Friday passed through another dull trading session as sellers were not inclined to liquidate their long positions at the falling prices.

However, leading spinners and mills were buyers around Rs3,100 to Rs3,150 per maund for the Punjab variety and Rs2,800 to Rs2,900 for the Sindh type, but ginners appear to be in no obliging moods at least for the near-term, brokers said.

Conflicting reports about the size of the crop is one of the negative factors, which did not allow smooth trading in lint sans the speculative elements, market sources said.

“After having purchased phutti at the high rate of Rs1,500 or slightly above, the current spinner bids are far below our parity rates,” ginners say, adding “the standoff on the ready front will continue until prices rise to our parity levels.”

The sudden fall in lint prices from Rs3,400 to Rs3,100 per maund during the last couple of sessions has sent shock wave among the ginners who could not precisely decided how to react to the developing situation.

But those ginners whose holding capacity is enormous are keeping to the sidelines awaiting further increase in prices and as a result ready offtake has declined to a modest proportions.

“The early week steep decline in New York cotton futures has altogether changed the world price outlook and local market could hardly be an exception, brokers said, adding “now it appears to be the turn of ginners to received massive battering.”

However, the overnight rebound staged by the New York cotton futures has raised hopes among the ginning sector that local prices will react positively to them in the coming sessions. And that is perhaps why they preferred to keep to the sidelines rather than selling their stocks in a haste.

New York cotton futures on Thursday were quoted higher by 0.95 and 0.98 cents per lb higher at 74.01 and 77.96 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March settlements, respectively.

Meanwhile, spinners are awaiting the release of arrival figures for the fortnight ending on Nov 15, by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), which, in their opinion, will be on the higher side of the market expectations and will have a negative impact on the current price line.

Official spot rates were further marked down by Rs125 per maund at Rs3,100 for the second session in a row, the net fall being Rs325.

Ready offtake was light totalling about 8,000 bales, mostly from the southern Punjab cotton belt. Most of the deals were done around Rs3,100, while some contamination-free lots fetched Rs3,150 per maund.