February 13, 2008	Wednesday	Safar 05, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 12: Cotton prices on Tuesday eased modestly lower by Rs25 per maund from the recent higher levels as some of ginners lowered their asking prices for the lower grade in an apparent bid to clear the backlog.

Floor brokers said some of the ginners, including some big ones were holding on to their long unsold positions amid hopes that prices may rise owing to a short crop but after a long wait it did not happen.

They said the market seems to be following the trend on the New York Cotton Exchange where prices fell sharply lower on speculative selling by the leading traders.

Both the maturing March and the forward May contracts were quoted lower by 1.93 and 1.81 cents per lb at 67.16 and 69.01, respectively.

Cotton analysts said the fall of the ruling May contract below the barrier of 70 cents could well mean that New York future contracts are heading for another big shock after the absence of the Chinese from the world cotton market.

But local spinners may not benefit from the current reversal as most of them are already heavily booked in lint import trade around 65 cents per lb, they said any fall below it could allow them to make fresh imports.

Some others said any further decline in New York cotton futures will certainly have negative fallout on the local prices and that may go in favour of the spinners and mills as another 3 million bales plus will be at their disposal from the local market.

However, spinners and mills were not in a hurry and made only selective covering purchases mostly at the lower level hoping some more selling offers at the lower levels may be following.

After a relative quiet on the ready front for the last couple of sessions, stray business was reported in the ready section as spinners lifted those lots, which fell in with their export parity levels, market sources said.

It was in this background that official spot rates were revised downward by Rs25 per maund at Rs3,125.

Ready off-take was light totaling 4,000 bales as under: 1,000 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs2,950 and 3,000 bales, fine quality Khanpur at 3,300.