December 27, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 3, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 26: Trading on the cotton market on Friday resumed on a higher note as ginners further raised their asking prices in sympathy with firm signals from the world trading centres.

Ready offtake, therefore, fell to a modest proportions as spinners and mills were not inclined to cover positions at the rising prices and most of the time adhered to the sidelines.

But needy among them who mostly operate on short basis were obliged to buy stray lots at Rs50 per maund higher depending on the quality of lint in trade, dealers said.

They also attributed fall in mill demand to year-end closing as leading among them were in the process of taking stock of their inventories before filling in supply gaps here and there.

Some of the ginners were inclined to sell to meet their bank demand and adjust overdraft limits but held on to their positions hoping further increase in prices.

After remaining static at the previous levels for the last couple of sessions, the sudden increase of Rs50 per maund was not backed by any positive development on the cotton front, analysts said, “there may be some rethinking on the size of the crop and its likely positive impact on the price line.”

They predicted that physical activity during the next couple of sessions may remain relatively slow on account of year-end considerations as most of the leading spinner groups have already covered their positions against their forward sales of cotton yarn for the next quarter ending March 31, 2004.

Meanwhile, the official import figure of lint swelled to 0.289m bales as compared to 0.122m bales on Dec 24. The consignments of imported stuff have started to arrive. According to market sources spinners have made forward deals for about 0.8m bales of lint from various sources to make up the possible crop shortfall.

However, the actual figure of the shortfall will be known by the end of January next year when bulk of the phutti will be processed by the ginners.

The official spot rates were, however, firmly held at the previous levels, although some of the deals were done above them.

Ready offtake was light owing to the absence of strong mill demand and as a result, about 5,000 bales changed hands as under: 2,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,250, 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,850, 400 bales, Sakrand at Rs3,050 and 200 bales inferior stuff, Ahmedpur East at Rs3,050.