15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 14: Brisk trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Thursday as spinners and mills lifted all the lots offered by ginners below the Rs2,000 per maund.

However, unlike the previous sessions there was no panic among the ginners as some of them held on to their long positions, which caused a modest recovery in prices in the evening trading. And in the process about 30,000 bales changed hands mostly big-lots of 1,000 to 2,000 bales as spinners were not inclined to miss the opportunity of buying at the lower rates in an uncertain future market outlook, brokers said.

The interesting feature was that instead of selling lint to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) at Rs2,159 per 40 kg in export packing, ginners were out to sell their stocks to the mills and spinners at much lower rates but, of course, on cash basis, they said. The lowest and highest rates being Rs1,800 and Rs2,000 depending on the quality.

Floor brokers said owing to procedural problems and reported delay in payments by the TCP, ginners prefer to sell to the spinners for quick unloading of their long positions.

"All points are in favour of spinners and mills as far as supply position is concerned in the backdrop of higher crop estimates", they said adding "but no one among them is inclined to take even a calculated risk as far supplies are concerned".

The market is expected to stay volatile as spinners are in a commanding position and set the market trend after having a fair idea of the crop and its likely impact on the future price outlook, they said.

Meanwhile, Cotlook B-index, to which local lint is linked and priced fell below 50 point barrier at 48.75, while Index-A was quoted at 51.65. New York cotton futures on Wednesday recovered from the previous low level and were quoted at 45.95 and 47.28 cents per lb, up 1.16 and 0.58 cents for both the ruling December and the distant March contracts respectively.

Local official spot rates on the other hand were firmly held at the previous levels, although in ready section some of the deals were done above them. The following are some of the notable deals went through late on Wednesday evening, details of which are released on Thursday:

SINDH VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs1,750 to Rs1,800, 2,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,825 to Rs1,850, 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs1,875 to Rs1,900, 1,000 bales, Nawabshah at Rs1,900, 1,000 bales, Khairpur at Rs1,925 and 1,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs1,950.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Gojra at Rs1,925 to Rs1,945, 1,400 bales, Sahiwal at Rs1,900 to Rs1,925, 1,600 bales, Kabirwala at Rs1,890 to Rs1,950, 2,000 bales, each Bahawalpur and Haroonabad at Rs1,925 to Rs1,950, 2,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs1,950, 1,000 bales, each Rahimyar Khan and Sadiqabad also at this rate and 2,000 bales, Burewala at Rs1,925 to Rs1,950.