March 17, 2006	Friday	Safar 16, 1427

KARACHI, March 16: Cotton market on Thursday lacked normal trading interest as spinners and mills remained busy with the TCP tender and offered their bid prices for various lots.

According to unofficial sources, local mills and spinner offered to buy 42,000 bales of grade-3 at Rs2,309 per maund and grade-4 at Rs2,106 per maund.

Some of the foreign buyers offered 47.27 cents per lb for grade-3 and 45.56 cents per lb for grade-4, which are 7.00 and 10.00 cents lower than the prevailing New York cotton futures, brokers said.

In normal conditions, local lint is sold at a discount of 5.00 cents per lb than the prevailing New York cotton futures owing to quality differentials, they said.

The official price evaluation committee will meet during the next couple of sessions and will announce the acceptance of bids or ask the bidders to further improve their bid rates, they added.

However, the TCP tender seems to have taken heat from the market and it may rule dull until spinners are back after TCP announces acceptance of bids.

But the general market perception is that some of the leading spinners are expected to lift modest quantities of lint after having improved their bid prices, some dealers said.

Meanwhile, official arrival figures for the fortnight ended March 15 are due to be released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) during the next couple of sessions, which will also have an impact on the ruling market prices, they said.

In the absence of leading buyers, official spot rates did not show any change and were firmly held at the overnight level of Rs2,450 per maund.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed a modest rise of 0.48 cents for both the ruling May and distant July contracts at 54.58 and 55.81 cents per lb respectively.

Ready off-take was light totalling about 1,500 bales done around Rs2,450 per maund, all from the southern Punjab ginneries.