07 January 2005	Friday	25 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Jan 6: Brisk activity was witnessed on the cotton market on Thursday as spinners remained active buyers after the ginners raised their asking prices by Rs25 to Rs50 per maund.

Having a fair idea of mill demand in the backdrop of higher exports, ginners were of the view that the spinners may need over 13m bales to meet their annual consumption needs and they appeared to be in no hurry to sell at the lower rates, cotton analysts said.

Spinners were not ready to take even a technical breather amid reports that strong mill demand could push prices further higher at the fag-end of the season. Moreover, TCP tally of over 2.5m bales has also sent shock waves among the spinners and mills who fear fine lots would be cornered by the TCP if they did not act swiftly, brokers said.

"Spinners are trying to match daily TCP buying and are in a mood to lift the fine lots well before ginners offer them to the corporation, which is paying a bit higher rates for contamination-free lots", they said.

However, the TCP as a second buyer whose official role is only to stabilize prices did not enter the domain of the spinners and only acts where their presence is negligible and ginners seek its help to bail them out from the higher unsold stocks, market sources said.

Spinners major buying thrust remained on the upper Sindh fine lots for the fourth session in a row, which in turn allowed ginners to raise their asking prices to Rs2,050 per maund.

A big-lot of 8,000 bales of K-68 Sawgin from a couple of upper Sindh ginneries changed hands at Rs2,025 to Rs2,050 per maund where the presence of the TCP is not evident, dealers said.

Official spot rates were, therefore, raised by Rs15 in line with those in physical trading and partly in sympathy with New York cotton futures. Both the March and May contracts rose by 1.13 and 1.20 cents at 54.62 and 46.16 cents per lb respectively. Ready business was active totalling about 30,000 bales, following being some of the notable deals.

SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Khairpur at Rs1,875 to Rs1,900, 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,700 to Rs1,725 and 600 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs1,725 to Rs1,750.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 3,800 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs1,950 to Rs1,975, 2,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs1,950 to Rs2,000, 1,000 bales, Khanpur and 2,000 bales, Uch Sharif at Rs1,975 to Rs2,000, 1,000 bales, Jehania at Rs1,975, 400 bales, Dunya Pur at Rs2,025 and 600 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs1,900 to Rs1,975.