March 07, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 17, 1428

KARACHI, March 6: The Cotton market on Tuesday maintained firm trend as spinners and mills resumed their normal covering operations at the prevailing prices.

“It appears to be a belated mill reaction to the perception of a short crop,” a leading ginner who still holds a substantial quantity of unsold stocks said, adding that in the process prices could rise further higher in the coming weeks.

Spinners and mills had been holding the price line according to their export parity levels for the last couple of weeks after playing hide-and-seek game with ginners.

“Weaker links of the ginners get themselves out of the market after having sold their stocks on average price of Rs2,550 per maund,” analysts said, adding “now big ones holding onto large unsold stocks are in the arena commanding prices to rise further higher”.

This phenomenon was well-reflected in a modest deal of 600 bales at season’s highest rate of Rs2,650 per maund, while some other deals were done at Rs2,625.

Some of the spinners and mills were planning imports from the United States after fresh fall in New York cotton futures that in turn could push local prices lower, brokers said.“The purchasing power of mills and spinners has been weakened due to falling world demand for textiles and fears of fresh rise in lint prices,” they said.

Official spot rates were, however, again held unchanged at Rs2,525 per maund but fine lots were sold well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand fell by 0.78 and 0.84 cents at 55.07 and 53.05 cents per lb for both the maturing March and the distant May contracts respectively.

Mill ready offtake was on the higher side after several lean sessions as about 15,000 bales, changed hands mostly from the Punjab ginneries. The following were some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,500 and 500 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,625.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 600 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,650, 2,500 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,565, 800 bales, Duniyapur at Rs2,600, 1,000 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,575, 200 bales, Fazalpur at Rs2,565, 1,000 bales, Mian Channu, low quality at Rs2,400, 800 bales, Chichawatni at Rs2,300 to Rs2,325, 1,000 bales, Pir Mahal at Rs2,300 and 1,200 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,600-2,625.