October 17, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 23, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 16: Mill buying on the cotton market on Monday gathered fresh momentum as some of the Sindh ginners lowered their asking prices in an apparent effort to clear the backlog of unsold stocks.

But some local brokers said the quality factors appear to be the chief reason behind the fall of Rs25 per maund but Punjab variety was traded around the previous levels.

Some big deals in central Sindh lint were reported at around Rs2,350 per maund, which reflects some hasty selling on the part of ginners apparently because of quality factors and mills quality standards, they added.

During the last week, most of the deals in Sindh type were done at around Rs2,400 per maund but the current week witnessed nervous selling by some of the ginners.

Market sources said delivery problems owing to upcoming Eid holidays appeared to be the chief worry of both the spinners and ginners which in turn had a negative impact on the prevailing prices.

Apart from an increase in fares by the cargo haulers for the delivery during the current week, the other inhibiting factor was the post-Eid holiday week during which both the trading and shipments will virtually remained suspended until next Saturday, they added.

The weaker links of the ginners, who were not inclined to take risk of holding their unsold stocks during the post-Eid holiday trading week, preferred to sell them at the lower rates, they added.

Official spot rates, however, did not show any change and were held at previous level of Rs2,400 per maund.

About 20,000 bales, changed hands in the ready section, both in Sindh and Punjab types, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,375; 3,500 bales, Mirpurkhas, 500 bales, Tando Adam, and 500 bales, Khipro at Rs2350.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000 bales, Rajanpur, 1,200 bales, Kabirwala, 200 bales, Liaquatpur, 400 bales, Jalalpur, at Rs2,450; 2,000 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,430 to Rs2,450; 200 bales, Mailsi, 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 200 bales, DG Khan, and 200 bales, Haroonabad at Rs2,425; 200 bales, Choti at Rs2,465; 200 bales, Ghaziabad, 400 bales, Vehari, and 1,000 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs2,400; and 600 bales, Chichawatni at Rs2,440.