February 25, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 26, 1427

KARACHI, Feb 24: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Friday as price ideas of both ginners and spinners found a meeting ground in line with their parity levels well below the higher ceiling of Rs2,600 per maund.

About 20,000 bales changed hands in the process. While the inferior lots were sold as lower as Rs2,250, fine ones from the southern Punjab ginners again quoted higher around Rs2,575 and some of the leading spinners were said to be active buyers at this peak rate.

“The active selling by some of the ginners holding on to stray unsold stocks may not be a prelude to further weakening of prices, it certainly shows a tiredness on the part of those who need money to clear their bank loans,” says a leading broker.

But some others claim that the continued absence of spinners and mills have un-nerved some of the weak ginners who indulged in selling in an apparent effort to clear the backlog of unsold stocks.

“The above normal unsold stocks lying in the ginneries for the last couple of months are considered a drain on the financial resources of the ginners as well over Rs20 billion are tied to them,” they said.

The ginners’ perception that the lint prices would rise to new highs owing to a short crop did not prove correct as spinners played their cards credibly well and managed to keep prices within their export parity levels, they added.

Market sources said the holding capacity of some of the ginners is fading under the weight of financial risks and indications are that some of them will try to get out of the current no-win situation.

Although New York futures are rising each day but they did not have any sympathetic impact on the local prices. Both the contracts, March and May, were quoted further higher by 0.48 and 0.18 cents per lb at 57.38 and 57.02 cents respectively.

There was, however, no change in the official spot rates for the third session in a row but in the ready section deals were finalized in line with the quality.

Ready off-take was active totalling about 20,000 as under:

SINDH TYPE: 4,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,250 to 2,275, 600 bales, Nawabshah at 2,425, 500 bales, Shahdadpur at 2,535, 3,000 bales, Sanghar at 2,350 to 2,450.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 400 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,535, 2,600 bales, Khanpur at 2,500, 800 bales, Multan at 2,575, 900 bales, Chistian at 2575, 600 bales, Vehari at 2,500, 600 bales, Mailsi at 2,510, 700 bales, Uch Sharif at 2,525 and 800 bales, Yazman at 2,550.