March 29, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

KARACHI, March 28: Cotton market passed through a listless trading session on Friday as Punjab’s trading centres remained closed on account of weekly holiday.

Moreover, after Thursday’s hectic covering purchases, spinners also took a breather in an apparent effort not to fuel a fresh price flare-up, notably for the fine variety, some dealers said.

Both spinners and leading mills need fine lots to produce higher counts of cotton yarn and cloth but ginners are not inclined to oblige them below Rs3,500 per maund followed by a standoff on the price front. That is perhaps why bulk of the business is confined to average quality of lint, they said.

“There may be some liquidity problems also as most of the spinners and mills have invested well over Rs50 billion to finance the import of three million bales of lint from various sources, which may have been limiting their buying capacity,” said a ginner.

The ginners in the southern Punjab cotton belt who hold bulk of unsold stocks observe Friday as a weekly holiday but late in the evening resume activity on a modest scale, floor brokers said, adding that late in evening, no one among them reported any fresh deal.”

However, market sources reported that stray lots did change hands through local brokers around Rs3,350 to Rs3,400 per maund in lint based on Sindh varieties, including fine variety of K-68.

But some others said spinners were also reluctant buyers amid hopes that continued erosion of prices in the New York cotton futures could have a sympathetic impact on local prices in the next week.

In the absence of fresh buying orders, there was no change in the official spot rates, which were again held unchanged at Rs3,300 per maund.

But on the other hand New York cotton futures suffered fresh setback of 0.89 and 1.01 cents per lb at 73.01 and 76.14 for both the ruling May and the new crop July settlements, respectively.

Mills ready off-take was light, totaling about 1,500 bales, mostly from the Sindh ginneries done between Rs3,300 and Rs3,400 per maund.