KARACHI, Aug 27: Cotton market on Wednesday witnessed brisk trading for second day in a row as spinners were not inclined to take even a technical breather despite the fact the ginners had raised their asking prices by Rs25 to Rs50 per maund.

“There appeared to be a virtual panic among the spinners and mills to grab the floating stock below Rs4,150 per maund,” said floor broker, adding “the export parity levels are now at work as some of the mills are said to be fully booked for this year and at competitive rates also”.

About 25,000 bales included some big-lots above 3,000 bales changed hands amid erratic prices, but the interesting feature was that the selling rates were uniform for both the Sindh and the central Punjab varieties.

However, the market sources said some of the leading local spinners preferred Sindh lint as it was of good quality as it escaped the pest attack.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from the cotton belt where second picking operations of phutti are on the higher side indicate that the arrivals in the ginneries have also showed a considerable increase during the last couple of days, market sources said. They said spraying operations in pest-affected areas in the Punjab cotton belt are also said to be on the higher side and further damage to the standing crop had been averted.

Official spot rates were revised upward by Rs25 per maund at Rs4,075, but bulk of the business was done well above them.

New York cotton futures also recovered from the current lows and were quoted higher by 0.36 and 0.34 cents per lb at 67.27 and 69.46 cents for both the ruling October and the forward December settlements respectively.

Ready business was maintained on the higher side totalling about 25,000 bales, the following being some notable deals,

SINDH VARIETY: 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur and 3,200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs4,100 to Rs4,150, 2,000 bales, Sanghar, 1,600 bales, Khipro, 800 bales, Hala, 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas, 400 bales, each and New Saeedabad at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125 and 1,000 bales, Hyderabad at Rs4,100.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000 bales, Burewala, 1,200 Chichawanti, 1,800 Mian Channu and 600 bales, Gojra at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 800 bales, each Arif Wala, Khanewal, 400 bales each Pir Mahal and Kabirwala and 1,000 bales, Pak Pattan at Rs4,100.