10 February 2005	Thursday	30 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Feb 9: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Wednesday as pent-up mill demand figured prominently on the current levels owing perhaps to some negative reports about the future supplies.

But floor brokers failed to give specific reasons behind the near-panic mill buying but some others said spinners and mills tried to cover their positions against forward sales for the quarter ending March 31, 2005.

After several lean sessions in the absence of leading spinners, the market hummed with activity, signalling that next couple of sessions, prior to the release of arrival figures of phutti for the fortnight ending Feb 15, could be more hectic, brokers said.

About 25,000 bales, including a number of big lots change hands between Rs2,150 per maund on the lower side and Rs2,200 on the higher side.

"Fine lots may be in short supply as bulk of it has already been purchased by the TCP and ginners are not inclined to sell scattered lots apparently hoping further rise in prices", market sources said.

Although international prices have fallen in line with the local rates, spinners and mills prefer local lint and may opt for imports if the local crop is below their annual consumption needs, they said.

The overnight rain in the major cotton areas of upper Sindh may further delay delivery of the lint already purchased as local spinners will await clear weather.

Meanwhile, ginning operations in the rain-affected areas remained suspended as wet phutti is not fit for ginning because it affects the quality of fibre as well as micronaire, analysts said.

Reports from the New York cotton market were a bit bearish where both the future contracts suffered fall of 0.54 and 0.48 cents for the ruling March and the distant May at 42.70 and 44.12 cents per lb respectively.

Local official rates on the other hand remained basically unchanged from the previous level of Rs2,125 per maund.

Ready off-take was active totalling about 25,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 4,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,175 to Rs2,200, 2,000 bales, Khairpur at Rs2,065 to Rs2,075 and 800 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,025 to Rs2,050.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 7,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,190 to Rs2,200, 5,000 bales, Ahmedpur East, and Uch Sharif at Rs2,100 to Rs2,200 and 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,100 to Rs2,150.