November 15, 2006	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 14: Trading on the cotton market on Tuesday resumed on a brisk note as spinners and mills made extensive covering purchases apparently fearing further increase in prices.

Brokers said the panic mill buying followed by reports that ginners had raised lint prices by Rs15 to Rs25 per maund as arrivals of phutti showed a considerable decline over the last two days.

About 40,000 bales, mostly of fine quality, changed hands as leading spinner groups tried to grab floating stock to cover their forward sales, market sources said.

Some of the big lots in the Punjab variety were done as higher as Rs2,475, signalling the next target could be Rs2,500 per maund depending on the mill demand, they said.

“After having flooded the ginneries by phutti during the last couple of weeks, growers seem to have taken a breather in an apparent move to push prices higher from the current Rs1,100 to Rs1,125 per 40 kg,” they said.

According to some ginners from the southern Punjab cotton belt, growers were holding back in part of their newly-second picking phutti and were not willing to sell it below Rs1,150 per 40 kg.

“The market could further heat up in the coming sessions if growers held on to their unsold positions for another week or so,” spinners fear, adding “the imports of lint from India may not be a negative factor for them as was reflected by their current moves to get a fair price for their produce”.

There was no change in the official spot rates, which were firmly held at the overnight level of Rs2,375 per maund.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling about 40,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals.

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,330 to Rs2,360, 2,000 bales, Khairpur at Rs2,385, 600 bales each Shahdadpur and Tando Adam at Rs2,375 and Rs2,350 respectively.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 3,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,450 to Rs2,460, 1,000 bales each Hasilpur, Liaquatpur, Gelanwali, Ahmedpur East, Gojra, and Muridwala at Rs2,40, 2,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,450 to Rs2,460, 1,000 bales, Basti Malook at Rs2,465, 2,000 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,450, 1,400 bales, Lodhran at Rs2,450 to Rs2,460, 1,000 bales, Jalalpur at Rs2,455 to Rs2,465, 2,000 bales, Alipur at Rs2,450 to Rs2,475 and 3,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,450 to Rs2,460.