KARACHI, July 2: The cotton market on Saturday showed quietly steady trend as prices of average quality of lint remained pegged at the previous levels in the absence of spinners and mills.

After having risen sharply during the last couple of sessions, New York cotton futures on the other hand stood firm above the benchmark rate of 50 cents per lb at 52.15 and 54.40 cents for both the matured July and the forward October settlements, respectively.

Analysts said the TCP had failed to get a competitive price of its lint stocks on sales in its recent auctions, as foreign buyers were not inclined to match their bids in line with those of New York cotton futures.

In normal market conditions, the local lint is sold at a discount of four to five cents per lb owing to its medium staple length as compared to New York cotton futures, they said.

According to the same yardstick, Pakistani lint should get Rs50 cents per lb on the lower side, but incidentally foreign buyers, who bid for a substantial quantity of lint in early week’s TCP auction, failed to get a single bale as their bids were far below the world prices, they said.

The TCP is holding another auction on Monday for a sizable number of bales comprising both short and medium staple lint in the backdrop of higher New York cotton futures, and how foreign buyers will respond to its reference price is expected to set the future direction of the market, brokers said.

But on the other hand, local spinners and mills are out to lift all the lots as they still need sufficient supplies to cover their forward positions against foreign sales of both yarn and textiles, they said.

Meanwhile, reports coming from cotton belts indicate that the growth of newly sown cotton is in line with the initial projections and there are no reports of pest attack from any part of the prominent producing areas.

New York cotton futures were marked down by 0.07 cents per lb at 54.25 for the ruling new crop October settlement, while the matured July was marked up by 0.5 cents at 52.15 cents per lb at which rate it was rung off the board.

There was no change in the local official spot rates, which were held unchanged at Rs2,300 per maund, but there was no reports of ready offtake, although some brokers put the figure at 1,200 bales, both from central and southern Punjab ginneries.