November 02, 2006	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 1: Cotton market on Wednesday passed through another heavily traded session as spinners and mills continued to build-up long positions at the prevailing rates. Another about 30,000 bales changed hands for the second session in a row as spinners and mills are not inclined to take even a technical breather fearing fresh increase in prices.

In physical trading, unlike the previous two sessions, some of the leading ginners raised their asking prices by Rs25 per maund for quality lots and spinners obliged them, brokers said.

“If the mill demand persisted for another couple of sessions on the current level, prices are bound to rise further,” they said “but much will depend on the spinner future buying strategy.”

However, current spinner mood reflects that they are not inclined to take even a calculated risk at this stage as the size of the crop is still unclear, they added.

Moreover, the current prices are said to be in line with the export parity levels and market sources said some of the leading mills are still to go a long way to cover their forward sales of yarn and cloth.

According to market sources the textile sector will need about 15m bales to see the current season through and an expected crop shortfall will be met through fresh imports, which in turn could push prices further higher at the fag-end of the season. Official spot rates were again quoted unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,350 but most of the deals were done well above them.

But on the other hand New York cotton futures showed divergent trend. While the ruling December contracts fell by 0.08 cents, the forward March rose by 0.19 cents at 49.28 and 53.09 cents per lb, respectively.

Mills ready off-take was fairly brisk totalling about 30,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at 2,325 to 2,350, 1,000 bales, Nawabshah at 2,300 to 2,325, 600, 400 bales each Shahdadpur, Shahpur Chakkar and Sarari at 2,325.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 5,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs.2,425, 2,000 bales, Haroonabad at Rs.2,415, 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at 2,420, 2,000 bales, Uch Sharif and 1,400 bales, Jalalpur at 2,425, 3,000 bales, Ahmedpur East at 2,425, 1,000 bales, Liaquatpur at 2,415, 1,000 bales, D.G.Khan at 2,400,and 800 bales, Noorpur at 2,420. There were several other deals below 1,000 bales.