January 27, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 17, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 26: Cotton market finished the weekend session on firm note as ginners held on to their unsold positions followed by analyst predictions of further improvement in prices during the next couple of weeks.

According to official figures an unsold stock of 1.821m bales was lying in the godowns of ginners up to Jan 15, out of which spinners have purchased about 0.2m bales so far.

“As the crop is short, ginners are in no hurry to liquidate long positions as prospects of a price flare-up now appear certain in the backdrop of a short crop of slightly higher than 10m bales,” said a cotton analyst.

He said spinners and mills are also making orderly buying to keep check speculative rise in prices and to keep them within the current level of below Rs3,400 per maund.

That is perhaps why spinners and mills are playing game of hide and seek with the ginners, he said adding: “One day they make massive purchases, including big lots of 5,000 to 9,000 and the very other day they get out of the market, leaving ginners guessing the motive behind the entire activity.”

However, the persistent fall in New York futures from the 73 cents per lb level to 68 cents for the ruling March contract did worry them as they may not be in a position to escape the negative fallout of global decline in prices, market sources said.And added to it import of half a million bales of lint from India through Wagah, which could also depress the local prices as bulk of the mill demand would be diverted to the imported stuff purchased at lower rates, they added.

The trading during the next couple of sessions will show how ginners would tilt the price balance in their favour, they said.

In the absence of strong mill demand, official spot rates were again firmly held unchanged at the last level of Rs3,200 per maund.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fresh fall of 0.50 and 0.45 cents per lb at 67.89 and 69.70 cents for both the ruling March and the forward May contracts, respectively.

Ready off-take was light totaling about 2,000 bales, the following being notable deals: 800 bales, Dadu at Rs3,200 and 400 bales, Khanpur at 3,350.