KARACHI, July 27: Trading activity on the cotton market on Thursday remained at low ebb, as spinners and mills awaited the opening of their bids against the TCP tender and did not participate in the dealings in the ready section.

According to details available from both the TCP and market sources, the highest bid for the grade-2 lint was offered at Rs2,376 per maund and the lowest at Rs2,261 for the grade-3 against 36,000 bales on sales.

The TCP evaluation committee is expected to meet on Friday to announce the names of successful bidders and the number of bales sold, while others may be asked to improve their bid prices.

Market sources said indications were that the TCP might accept some of the bids offered by the local spinner mills for the grade-2 lots, while bidders of the lowest rates were expected to revise them upward.

Floor brokers said in the backdrop of prevailing prices both on the local and foreign markets, the bids appeared to be on the lower side, and the TCP in an effort to dispose of them might accept some of them.

According to the market sources, the TCP still held an unsold stock of about 60,000 bales and was inclined to keep its slate clean before resuming market support operations for the new crop after the official directive.

Owing to the absence of leading spinners from the ready market, the activity remained slow, but reports reaching here from the central Punjab cotton belt indicate that spinners are active buyers of the new crop and are lifting all the lots being offered by ginners around Rs2,450 per maund.

But on the local market, the activity remained slow and only 1,000 bales of new crop changed hands, including 500 bales from a Shahdadpur ginnery at Rs2,500.

Official spot rates on the other hand were firmly held at the last levels of Rs2,500 for want of buying support.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fractional decline of 0.15 and 0.06 cents at 53.25 and 55.12 cents per lb for both the ruling October and forward December settlements, respectively.