October 22, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 28, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 21: Pre-Eid holiday mood prevailed on the cotton market on Saturday as spinners kept to the sidelines most of the time and did not make fresh commitments owing to a long weekend ahead.

The sentiment in part was also influenced on the lower side owing to Hindu festival Devali and the absence of leading Hindu cotton traders, including ginners, floor brokers said.

But the chief problem behind the falling demand was said to be delivery problems as transportation of consignments had become very expensive as cargo haulers had increased fares, they added.

The normal trading activity is expected to be resumed by the end of the next week as post-Eid holiday trading could witness heavy pent-up demand both from the spinners and mills, they added.

“But no one is sure about the selling prices after the Eid holidays as ginners may raise them from the current level if the arrival of phutti from the growers remained suspended for another couple of sessions,” some analysts fear.

In market parlance, prices generally rose after a long weekend and the cotton market may not be an exception viewed in the backdrop of supply and demand, they added.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the Punjab cotton belt indicate that ginners are a bit worried over the larger unsold stocks of 0.761m bales as some of their weaker links may opt for hasty selling fearing fall in prices.

Moreover, a 10 per cent increase in arrival of phutti for the fortnight ending Oct 15 in Punjab ginners also points to some readjustment in prices in the coming weeks, some others said.

On the export front, private sector exporters have up to Oct 15 purchased another 21,107 bales, raising the total to 47,331 bales of the current crop, against which physical shipments of 7,129 bales have so far been made, according to official figures available from the Export Promotion Bureau.

Official spot rates were again firmly held at the last levels but some of the deals in the ready section were done well below them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose further by 0.46 and 0.50 cents per lb at 49.21 and 52.45 both for the ruling December and forward March contracts, respectively.

Ready offtake was light at 2,500 bales, including 500 bales, Sarari at Rs2,325.