October 18, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 5, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 17: The post-Eid session on the cotton market finished on a dull note as brokers and ginners remained busy in exchanging Eid greetings rather than resuming normal trading activity.

Spinners are worried over the delivery problems as roads are terribly busy and occupied by the caravans of buses and other means of transport are coming all the way from Lahore to Karachi to welcome Benazir Bhutto who is expected to arrive here on Thursday, market sources said.

That will mean another dull trading session if goes well with the welcoming crowd on the city roads although some brokers fear violence and law order situation.

Floor brokers said partial activity was expected to be resumed by Friday but some others said interruption caused by a long holiday weekend could take a couple of sessions more and said the next Monday could be an appropriate session.

Apart from delivery problems, the world price outlook could be another supporting factor as both the ginner and the spinner will readjust their priorities keeping in view the international market trend, they said.

Moreover, arrivals of phutti will remain suspended for another two days as picking operations in the southern cotton belt will possibly resume by the next week.

Official spot rates were, therefore, remained pegged at the last level of Rs2,825 per maund.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed fractional changes in the absence of strong speculative support. The ruling December contract rose by 0.13 cents, while the forward March was fractionally down by 0.03 cents at 63.45 and 67.41 cents respectively.

Some of the brokers reported that stray lots did change hands on last Saturday but details were not immediately available.