15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 14: Cotton prices on Friday eased modestly from the current higher levels as some of the ginners tried to shed their extra load ahead of eid holidays.

Physical activity was relatively slow as delivery problems continued to haunt spinners and they were only interested in lots on Karachi-delivery basis. Some of the ginners having storage facilities in the city readily obliged those spinners who offered them competitive prices, market sources said.

Leading ginners who had been holding long unsold positions for the last couple of weeks anticipating further increase in prices sold in part mostly at the spinners bid prices, brokers said.

The general view was that spinners would remain active buyers to cover their forward sales of cotton yarn and made-ups and in the process prices could rise further, their consensus rate was Rs2,200 for premium lots, they said.

But Wednesday's absence of spinners and mills from the market worried ginners and weaker among them indulged in hasty selling pushing prices down, they said and as a result, all the lots offered around Rs2,100 per maund were readily picked up.

Fine types were, therefore, traded Rs25 to Rs50.00 per maund lower as most of the deals were finalized between Rs2,050 and Rs2,100. Brokers said prices could ease further during the next week as mill demand would shrink further in view of delivery problems and hopes of fresh hasty selling by the ginners.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the southern Punjab and upper Sindh cotton belts indicate that arrivals of phutti into the ginneries have almost dried up after leading growers sold the balance around Rs950 to Rs975 per maund.

Official spot rates were, therefore, lowered by Rs25 depending on the quality of lint, although some deals were done above them. New York cotton futures also suffered modest decline of 0.31 and 0.40 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the forward May contracts at 46.28 and 47.06 cents respectively. On late Thursday evening, about 20,000 bales changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 4,000 bales, Gothki, Mirpur Mathelo and Dharki at Rs2,100.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, each Ahmedpur East, Bahawalpur, 1,000 bales, Khanpur and 400 bales, Muridwala at Rs2,100, 3,000 bales, and 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan and Multan at Rs2,075 to Rs2,100 and 2,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,050 to Rs2,100.