September 26, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 2, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 25: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on an easy note as ginners held on to their stocks to forestall further decline in prices. Lint prices have been on the decline for the last couple of sessions following conflicting reports about the size of the crop and hasty selling of phutti by the growers.

Official spot rates were lowered by over Rs100 per muand at Rs2,550 after having risen to Rs2,650 some days earlier on rumours of damage to crop by rain and pest attack, floor brokers said.

Unlike the previous sessions, both the growers and ginners are holding on to their unsold positions after prices of Sindh lint dropped to Rs2,500 per maund and that of Punjab variety to Rs2,600.

Cotton analysts said rumours spread by some quarters about a short crop appeared to have no relevance to the ground realities as latest surveys indicated it as normal at 12m bales plus.

“Growers who were out to clear their unsold stock positions after followed by reports of a normal crop lean links here and there notwithstanding decided to hold back stock to push prices again higher,” they added.

Phutti prices in the recent past progressively declined to Rs1,100 from the early seasonal highs of Rs1,400, which in turn has a bearish impact on the lint rate.

It was perhaps in this background that the official spot rates were lowered by Rs25 at Rs2,550 per maund, although some of the deals were done well below them.

Ready offtake was below a normal average figure owing to holding back of stocks by the ginners to check further decline, totalling about 8,000 bales as under:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,515 to Rs2,550; 600 bales, Tando Adam, 200 bales, Jhole and Oderolal, at Rs2,525; and 400 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,500 to Rs2,525.

PUNJAB TYPE: 200 bales, Gojra at Rs2,600; 600 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,625; and 400 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs2,575.