KARACHI, Dec 31: Cotton market closed the last session of the eventful year on a firm note as despite higher crop estimates, prices remained stable after brief bearish spell before the entry of the TCP.

The underlying sentiment was also influenced favourably to reports of widespread rain in the entire cotton belt, which will delay arrivals of phutti into the ginneries as well as ginning operations for a couple of days as phutti lying on the plinths of the mills got wet.

As the arrival figures of phutti since the beginning of the season show, Pakistan appears to be on the threshold of harvesting an all-time record harvest of 13m bales plus, analysts said.

The strong presence of the TCP as a second buyer restored sanity to cotton trading eliminating price manipulation by the speculative forces and judiciously protected the interests of both the grower and the ginner, they said.

An optimism prevailing among the spinners and mills about an adequate and cheaper lint indicates that all the sectors associated with the cotton economy stand to gain from an expected bumper crop, some others said.

During the brief period, well before the official nod for the TCP to support the market, most of the small growers could not secure fair prices amid falling prices, which at one stage hit the low of Rs750 per 40 kg as compared to previous year's peak level of Rs1,700.

However, per acre yield saving on pesticide account because of there was no damaging reports of pest attack, growers may have not been at a disadvantage in view of the objective conditions. But on the other hand spinners could be the chief beneficiary of the bumper crop, rising foreign demand for textiles and adequate local supplies of lint through the season, market sources said.

"Textile sector is poised to set new all-time high record of exports around $8bn thanks to better lint intake because of massive expansion programmes carried out during the recent years and easy supply of raw material", they said.

Official spot rates were further upped by Rs15 to Rs1,925 per maund but most of the deals in the ready section were done well above them. Ready off-take shrank modestly as spinners were not inclined to buy at the higher rates and as a result, turnover figure fell to about 15,000 bales.

The following are some of the notable deals: 9,000 bales, upper Sindh, at Rs1,975 to Rs2,000, 1,000 bales, each Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur at Rs1,950 to Rs1,975, 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs1,925 to Rs1,950, 400 bales, inferior quality each, Chichawatni and Mamu Kanjan at Rs1,700.