January 18, 2006	Wednesday	Zilhaj 17, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 17: Cotton market on Tuesday shrugged off the pre-Eid holiday hesitancy as spinners and mills resumed their covering operations to fill the supply gaps here and their.

But as speculated, the re-entry of buyers in the market witnessed a price flare-up, a pleasant surprise for both the spinners and the mills as they were not expecting a pre-Eid holiday status quo, brokers said.

By now ginners, having a fair idea of crop, raised their asking prices, but this time spinners were not inclined to take risks and made modest short-covering most at the sellers’ options.

As a result, some of the deals were done as higher as Rs2,450, an increase of Rs50 per maund above the pre-Eid holiday rates and some analysts predict further increase in the coming sessions.

Late unconfirmed reports said some of the spinners were buying around Rs2,500 per maund but the details of the deals were not immediately available.

But the future price outlook will essentially be guided by the mill demand and if they indulged in panic buying after the fortnightly phutti arrival figures are released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) during the next couple of sessions, prices could rise further, market sources said.

PCGA sources said owing to extended Eid holidays, the arrival figures may be delayed for the next couple of sessions but are expected to be released before Jan 20.

However, spinners seem to be a bit worried over the crop position and their weaker links are making near-panic buying as was reflected by progressive rise in prices in an actively traded session.

In line with the ready section, official spot rates were also raised by Rs25 per maund, but some of the deals in the ready section were done at Rs2,450.

Ready business was light totalling about 6,000 bales confined to Punjab lint as under: 1,000 bales, Ahmedpur East,400 bales, Jahania 200 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,450, 200 bales, Multan at 2,440, 200 bales, Rahimyar Khan at 2,420, 800 bales, Depalpur at 2,405, 600 bales, Sadiqabad at 2,415, 1,400 bales, at 2,425, and 800 bales, at 2,400.