April 25, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 07, 1428

KARACHI, April 24: Trading on the cotton market on Tuesday showed signs of revival as some of the spinners covered positions after ginners lowered their selling prices.

About 4,000 bales changed hands both of fine and low-mix lots as some of the ginners from the central Punjab cotton belt tried to get out of the market as spinners did not indulge in panic buying and prices remained stable around the previous levels, floor brokers said.

Spinners seem to be in no hurry to buy local lint at the higher prices after the fall of New York May cotton future below the 50 cent per lb mark, which in their assessment may have put them on an advantageous position as far as competitive imports are concerned.

The falling mill demand is apparently on this perception, which in their view could have a negative impact on the higher local prices, they said.

But most of the lots traded were odd lots indicating that some of the ginners holding them for the last two months in the hope of higher selling prices sold them in a bit haste at the lower levels, they said.

But leading ginners, both from the upper Sindh and southern Punjab, who hold bulk of the unsold stock of 0.4m bales, appear to be in no mood to sell below Rs2,800 per maund and are eyeing the level above it, they added.

“The standoff on the price front is not over,” ginners said adding: “We may wait for another couple of weeks for a better price before lowering our selling prices.”

Meanwhile, our weaker links, who are holding stray lots of inferior type for a better price in the backdrop of a short crop, may try to clear their unsold stocks at the lower levels.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,725 but in physical trading some big deals were done around this level.

New York cotton futures on the other hand fell by 0.54 and 0.58 cents per lb at 49.10 and 51.51 cents for both the ruling May and the forward July contracts, respectively.

The following are some of the lots, which changed hands in the ready section: 1,800 bales, 1,000 bales, Haroonabad and Bahawalpur at Rs2,725, 700 bales, Chishtian at 2,500 and 600 bales Shahdadpur of lower grade lint at Rs2,500 and Rs2,715, respectively.