June 19, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1429

KARACHI, June 18: The cotton market maintained a steady trend on Wednesday as some of the spinners and mills remained active buyers for any number of bales below Rs4,000 per maund.

For the second session in a row, much of the activity was again confined to upper Sindh fine variety offered by ginners well below the recent high of Rs4,000 per maund.

A big lot of 1,500 bales from a Mirpur Mathalo ginnery changed hands at Rs3,700 per maund and floor brokers said some of the ginners holding on to stray lots for a still better price were behind the current sales, said a floor broker.

But ginners from the southern Punjab cotton belts who hold bulk of the unsold stock of about 20,000 bales are sitting tight on the perception that the new crop is still far away and they may take a chance for better prices (around Rs4,000 or above), he added.

However, the correction in New York cotton futures after a steep rise may not have any relevance to fall in local prices in physical trading, said a ginner, adding: “those among us who still hold odd lots were behind the current sales at the lower rates.”

After having risen to above 76 cents per lb recently, New York cotton futures during the last couple of sessions have fallen to 72.81 and 77.07 cents per lb for both the ruling July and the new crop October settlements, respectively.

Meanwhile, crop monitoring reports coming in from the major cotton areas indicate that the growth of plants is normal and the recent rain significantly added to the growth to the crop sown in late May.

These reports also indicate that the canal water situation has also improved during the last couple of days and most areas are getting normal supplies, market sources said.

Official spot rates on the other hand did not show any change and were firmly held at the last level of Rs3,800 per maund.

The following were some of the deals in the ready section late in the evening: 400 bales, Saleh Pat at Rs3,700 and 600 bales, Khanpur Mehar at Rs3,850.