KARACHI, Sept 28: Trading activity on the cotton market on Friday was maintained on the higher side as both mills and spinners were in no mood to take even a technical breather at stage, floor brokers said.

Both leading spinners and their weaker links were after the floating stock of lint at or below Rs2,900 per maund which in their opinion could be most competitive in the entire season, they said.

“There may still be two opinions about the size of the crop but in any case both the ginner and the spinner are not inclined to indulge in speculative trading,” said a cotton analyst.

Although speculative forces are out to influence the market trend after spreading conflicting rumours about the size of the crop and damage by pest attack but no one is in a mood to buy their ideas, he added.

Orderly price rise and fall led by the supply and demand factors is guiding the current market trend which in a way benefits all those who are associated with the cotton trade, market sources said.

“Daily mill off-take of about 50,000 bales worth about Rs8bn indicates that all is well with the cotton trade at least for the near-term,” they added.

The most important feature of the daily trading is that big-lot business well above 1,500 bales dominates it, indicating spinners and mills are not short of liquid funds, they said.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,875 but some fine lots were being sold at much higher rate.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.54 and 0.72 cents at 63.67 and 66.67 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements respectively.

The following were some of the notable deals changed hands on Friday evening.

SINDH TYPE: 1,600 bales, Shahdadpur, at Rs2,885 to Rs2,900, 1,200 bales, Tando Adam and 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,875 to Rs2,900, 1,000 bales, Khipro at Rs2,875 and 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,850 to Rs2,875.