22 August 2004	Sunday	05 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Aug 21: Cotton market finished the weekend session on a firm note as ginners again raised their asking prices followed by bullish signals from the New York Cotton Exchange.

Most of the deals in physical trading were finalized Rs50 to Rs75 per maund higher. Late in the evening brokers said some of the leading spinners and mills were buyers at Rs2,400 for fine lots and a good number of lots changed hands at this level, claims a ginner.

Snap rally in the New York cotton futures pulled out the ginners and growers from the current impasse who were fearing a further spinner onslaught on the future price outlook, he adds.

After passing through a technical correction on speculative selling caused by higher production estimate in most of the major producing countries including Pakistan, New York cotton futures on Friday roared back to their pre-reaction levels on strong covering purchases by those dealers who were in an oversold position.

Both the ruling October and the December settlements were marked up 2.97 and 2.55 cents at 50.80 and 51.23 cents per lb respectively.

There was no trace of the overnight nervousness among the ginners who were obliged to lower their asking prices in line with international market trend but growers played a safe game and held back stocks of phutti, brokers said.

But the optimism, which gripped the spinning sector overnight after a sharp decline in prices proved short-lived, as the rebound in New York cotton futures provided ginners the needed boost, they said.

Market indications are that future price outlook will be guided partly by trend on the world market and partly to local crop projections.

However, unlike the previous seasons, both the ginner and the grower appear to be now too shrewd to be carried away by the negative or positive fallout of the international developments, they said.

Official spot rates were held unchanged but in the ready section most of the deals were done well above them.

Ready offtake was active as till late Friday evening about 5,000 bales, both from the Sindh and the Punjab cotton belts changed hands between Rs2,275 and Rs2,300 per maund.

The following are some of the notable deals reported by a leading brokerage house: 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,350, 200 bales, Kot Ghulam Muhammad at Rs2,325, 400 bales, each Tando Adam and Sanghar at Rs2,350.