April 03, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428

KARACHI, April 2: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a dull note as both spinners and mills kept to the sidelines owing to Eid-i-Miladun-Nabi celebrations and prayers.

Physical activity was thin as both buyers and sellers did not indulge in fresh buying both in the upper Sindh and southern Punjab ginneries and preferred to attend Milad meetings, floor brokers said.However, they hoped normal trading activity was expected to be resumed by Tuesday as spinners who hold short stock positions could not stay away for more than couple of sessions.

“The release of final crop figures expected to be released during the current week will shape up the future cotton outlook,” analysts said “the crop is short but how much will be known by the final figures and spinners and mills will refix their stock priorities after then”.

Unconfirmed reports said leading textile cartels had already made forward deals well above half a million bales with the foreign supplies and consignments against which were already arriving for the last several weeks.

Ginners said falling demand from the spinners also reflected that they were now relying more on the foreign stuff rather than the local lint, which is still available at cheaper rates.

“We are not worried about our unsold positions on the perception that spinners and mills have to return to the local market though a bit late but well before the new crop arrival from the lower Sindh cotton belt,” they added.

Official spot rates were held unchanged at the previous level of Rs2,600 in the absence of fresh buying by the mills.

But late in the evening some local brokers said about 3,000 bales of fine lint from the southern Punjab ginneries changed hands around Rs2,650 to Rs2,700 per maund.