December 01, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 9, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 30: Cotton prices on Thursday eased modestly from the current higher levels as spinners and mills took a technical breather to have an overview of their inventories.

After having making massive covering purchases for the last about one month spurred by fears of a short crop irrespective of the quality premiums, mills have a second thought on buying strategy and opted for quality lots needed for higher counts of cotton yarn and cloth, brokers said. That caused a brief interruption in their buying priorities and slowdown in their daily intake sent shock waves among ginners and some of their weaker links lowered their selling prices, they added.

But some others said bulk of the fine lots of phutti, notably from the southern Punjab cotton belt, is already lying on the plinths of ginneries, third picking in some of the areas is finding its way into the ginneries at a bit lower rates.

While fine lots were traded at around Rs2,550, inferior ones were traded lower by Rs25 at Rs2,475 per maund.

Moreover, arrival figures for the fortnight ending Nov 30 are said to be on the higher side as compared to the previous figures as growers flooded the ginneries around an average rate of Rs1,300.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the textile sector indicate that the situation on the export front is improving and spinners hope next quarter of the new year could be much better and give needed boost to exports.

Official spot rates were, therefore, held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,475 per maund in line with some of the deals transacted in the ready section.

New York cotton futures on the other hand remained under pressure on speculative selling and were quoted lower by 0.93 and 0.52 cents at 47.78 and 52.39 cents per lb for the maturing December and the forward March contracts, respectively.

Ready offtake was on the lower side, totalling 15,000 bales as under:

SINDH VARIETY: 400 bales, Buchari at Rs2,370; 400 bales, Khairpur at Rs2,475; 200 bales, Sarhad at Rs2,375; and bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,390.

PUNJAB TYPE: 800 bales, Sadiqabad, 1,400 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 1,500 bales, Rajanpur, 1,100 bales, Mian Channu, 1,200 bales, and Bahawalpur at Rs2,550; 1,000 bales, Muridwala at Rs2,500; 400 bales, Vehari at Rs2,450; 800 bales, Shujabad, 1,400 bales, Lodhran and 800 bales, Jalapur at Rs2,475.