March 9, 2006	Thursday	Safar 8, 1427

KARACHI, March 8: Cotton prices on Wednesday suffered fresh modest fall as some of the ginners lowered their asking prices to attract buyers who had withdrawn to sidelines for the last couple of sessions.

The ginner strategy proved an immediate success as spinners and mills were back and purchased about 15,000 bales including big lots after a relative lull for the last about a week, brokers said.

But those ginners who hold modest unsold lots were said to be in the forefront of sellers and cleared their positions after apparently having failed to sell them at the higher rates, they said.

“The persistent decline in New York cotton futures for the last couple of sessions seems to have sent bearish signal the world over and those holding long positions tried to keep a balance between the price and the stocks,” some brokers said.

Although some fine lots from the southern Punjab ginneries changed hands at Rs2,525 to Rs2,550 per maund but spinners were buyers at an average rate of Rs2,500, while some inferior lots were traded below this level.

Market sources said apart from higher unsold stock lying with the ginners, the other destabilizing factor was TCP tender for 50,000 bales, meant for March 16.

But some others said prices could move in line with the TCP tender at which it would accept bids both from the local and foreign buyers.

However, they said that the revival of mill demand at the lower asking prices showed that spinners would be active buyers provided ginners did not raise rates in line with the buying offers.

Official spot rates were lowered by another Rs10 at Rs2,500 in line with the average prices at which physical business was transacted.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fresh fall of 0.22 and 0.18 cents at 53.80 and 53.75 cents per lb for both the maturing March and the ruling May contracts respectively.

The following are some of the deals done in the ready section: 3,000 bales, Rohri at Rs2,500, 400 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,450, 2,700 bales, Jehania at Rs2,475, 2,000 bales, Hasilpur at Rs2,500 and 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,525 to Rs2,550.