December 12, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 11: Cotton prices on Thursday eased further from the current higher levels as leading ginners continued to liquidate long unsold positions followed by bearish signals from the world markets.

During the last two sessions, prices have dropped by Rs150 per maund and floor brokers predict further decline if leading ginners indulged in panic selling.

They attributed the prevailing panic-like conditions on the cotton market to highly erratic price pattern on the New York Cotton Exchange followed by speculation that the future market had already hit the high levels during the recent run-up.

Spinners and mills who had curtailed their daily intake owing to higher prices virtually rushed in to cover their forward positions at each dip during the last two sessions without awaiting further fall.

About 30,000 bales changed hands in late Wednesday evening trading and according to latest reports coming in from the Punjab cotton belt, mopping operations are still on, market sources said.

“Apart from bearish signals from the world markets, the other negative factor was larger unsold stock positions and ginners’ fear of further fall in prices”, they added.

The falling prices may still be well above the export parity levels of spinners and mills as their competitive rates is said to be around Rs2,800 per maund, they continued to build up long positions hoping further easing of prices during the coming sessions, they said.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the cotton belt indicate that a good number of ginneries have completed their seasonal operations and are in the process of clearing their stock positions.

Official spot rates were further lowered by Rs25 per maund at Rs3,175 per maund, although some of the deals in the ready section were done above and below them depending on quality.

New York cotton futures suffered fresh modest decline of 0.43 and 0.40 cents at 69.81 and 70.99 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the distant May settlements.

Ready offtake was fairly active as till late Wednesday evening about 30,000 bales changed, the following being some of the important deals:

SINDH TYPE: 1,200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,700 to Rs2,900, 2,000 bales, Jhole at Rs2,950, 200 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at Rs2,900, 1,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,250 and 400 bales, Bucheri at Rs3,100.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Hasilpur at Rs3,200 to Rs3,225, 2,500 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs3,200 to Rs3,250, 1,000 bales each, Alipur, Lodhran, and 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,200, 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad and 600 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs3,250, 1,600 bales, Burewala at Rs3,150 to Rs3,250, 3,000 bales, Shujabad at Rs3,250 to Rs3,300, 200 bales, each Khanewal and Kabirwala at Rs3,275.