March 26, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

KARACHI, March 25: Cotton market maintained a steady trend on Tuesday as spinners and mills resumed their normal operations after hopes of a fresh decline in prices dashed owing to sustained rebound staged by the international markets.

For the second session in a row, New York cotton futures, which generally set the global price trend, again came under speculative squeeze and rose further higher by about two cents per lb, said a leading cotton analyst Naseem Usman.

“The widely speculated fall below the 70-cent per lb level did not meterialise, giving a renewed push to world prices,” he said, adding “fearing an identical rise in local prices, spinners resumed their normal covering operations.”

Most of the deals were, however, quality-based as some of the fine lots from the southern Punjab cotton belt were traded as higher Rs3,500 per maund, he added.

Spinners who have been anticipating a fall in local prices in sympathy with the New York cotton futures during the last couple of sessions again re-entered the market and lifted about 8,000 bales at rates depending on the quality of lint.

However, market sources were not inclined to say that local prices could rise further higher from the current level owing to larger import of lint from various sources.

“Higher import of lint from various sources, which has already touched the high mark of 3m bales, more consignments are in the pipeline and together with the local crop of well over 10 bales, the total is around the annual consumption needs of the textile industry,” they said.

The official spot rates were held at the overnight level of Rs3,300 per maund for an average quality lint but fine lots were traded at much higher rates.

The following were some of the deals late on Tuesday evening: 4,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,350 to Rs3,465; 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,425 and 800 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,500.