September 16, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 22, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 15: Cotton market on Friday maintained a firm outlook as spinners were not inclined to take even a technical breather as reports of a short crop continued to haunt them.

“As crop outlook appears to be a bit bearish, supply worries continues to haunt us,” says a leading spinner commenting on the brisk ready off-take by them during the last couple of sessions. “Both a short crop and a price flare-up could upset our future export projections,” he added.

In the developing situation, ginners are playing a positive role as no one among them is holding back their unsold stocks and selling them to active spinners and mills.

“A state of uncertainty seems to have gripped the cotton trade as no one is sure about the crop positions in the absence of official word on the actual crop loss,” floor brokers said.

The arrival figures of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ended Sept 15, are eagerly awaited by spinners as they will give a fair idea of the crop shortfall, they added.

According to market sources, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) is expected to release the data early next week on which the future direction of the market would be based, some others said.

In physical trading, prices of Sindh type further eased though modestly as arrivals of phutti into the ginneries gathered fresh momentum.

Official spot rates were again firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,600 but in physical trading rates varied from lot-to-lot basis on quality premiums.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fresh modest fall on selling prompted by higher crop idea and fell by 0.17 and 0.16 cents per lb at 50.38 and 52.64 cents for the ruling October and the distant December contracts respectively.

Ready business was maintained on the higher sides totalling about 15,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals.

SINDH VARIETY: 1,600 bales, Mirpurkhas and 400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,500 to Rs2,550, 400 bales and 200 bales, Sanghar and Khipro at Rs2,525 and 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,575.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000 bales, Vehari, 400 bales, Jehania, 200 bales, each Hasilpur, Layyaha, Arifwala, Multan and Bahawalnagar at Rs2,650, 1,400 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,660 to Rs2,675, 200 bales, each Khanewal and Karampur, at Rs2,660, 200 bales, each Sahiwal and Depalpur at Rs2,675.