KARACHI, Feb 3: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Saturday as spinners covered their forward positions after ginners lowered their asking prices for the low-mic lint.

About 30,000 bales changed hands at rates linked to quality premiums but there was no change in prices of fine lots, which were quoted above Rs2,600 per maund.However, fine varieties from the upper Sindh and southern Punjab ginneries were again sold around the previous level of Rs2,625 per maund as ginners held on to their positions anticipating further increase in prices in the coming weeks owing to short supply.

Inferior lots were sold as low as Rs2,350 although the average fluctuated between Rs2,445-2,475 per maund.

The notable feature of trading was that a big deal of 14,000 bales from different ginneries of Rahimyar Khan changed hands at Rs2,600-2,625, indicating that ginners were holding on to the fine lots and were selling the inferior ones to clear the backlog, floor brokers said.

They said phutti arrival figures for the fortnight ended Jan 31 and larger unsold stocks lying in ginners’ godowns also worried some of the ginners who tried to clear their backlog and the consequent fall in prices.

But as the spinners and mills are still to go a long way, according to figures, most of the ginners entertain higher price ideas before the new crop from the lower Sindh cotton belt arrives, sometime in July, market sources said.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,525 but in the ready section most of the deals were finalised according to quality.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed modest recovery on speculative support and were quoted higher by 0.32 and 0.30 cents per lb for both the ruling March and forward May contracts at 53.89 and 54.87 respectively.

Ready off-take was on the higher side owing to revival of mill demand totalling about 30,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 5,000 bales, Rohri at Rs2,560-2,600, 1,000 bales Dadu at Rs2,450, 400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,350, 400 bales, Hyderabad at Rs2,445, 300 bales, Punjmoro at Rs2,465, 400 bales, Akari at Rs2,485, 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,475.