29 January 2004	Thursday	06 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Jan 28: Cheerless conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Wednesday as both buyers and sellers adhered to the sidelines awaiting some fresh development on the export front.

For the second session in a row, physical business remained at a low ebb as spinners, owing to delivery problems,were not inclined to make fresh commitments, brokers said.

On the ready counter, rates for fine varieties were quoted between Rs3,200 to Rs3,300 per maund, while that of inferior ones between Rs2,800 to Rs3,000 but no fresh deal was reported to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) by any of the leading upcountry brokers.

But some others claim ginners and spinners in the Punjab cotton belt indulged in normal trading but the details of their daily intake were not reaching here.

Stray lots for ready delivery from the local godowns did change hands as some of the needy spinners covered positions because of a long weekend ahead on account of Eid holidays, they added.

Market sources said some of the leading spinners were also anticipating some softening in the local prices in sympathy with the New York cotton futures after the Eid holidays and did not make fresh bidding.

New York cotton futures on Tuesday suffered sharp setback of 1.88 and 1.74 cents per lb at 73.76 and 75.06 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the distant May contracts respectively on speculative selling.

But some leading local brokers say the local prices are generally being guided by the supply and demand factors and may not necessarily be influenced by the bearish trend on the world markets.

Reports from the local cotton yarn market indicate a fair ready offtake as some of the leading end product users covered positions against the coming Eid holidays. Prices of most of counts of yarn remained steady around the previous levels.

Meanwhile, export figure of lint cotton rose to 0.138m bales up to Jan 23, against which 0.116m bales have so far been physically shipped to various destinations.

Owing to slack demand both from spinners and mills, the official spot rates were firmly held at the last levels. Ready offtake was light as till late on Tuesday evening 400 bales from Haroonabad changed hands at Rs3,200.