KARACHI, Sept 11: Cotton prices on Thursday remained under pressure as some of the ginners indulged in nervous selling fearing fresh fall in prices followed by reports of weakness of the foreign markets.

However, spinners and mills were not inclined to take even a technical breather and lifted all the lint offered for sale by both the Sindh and the Punjab ginners at modestly lower rates as compared to a day earlier, floor brokers said.

As a result, mill ready off-take was maintain on the higher side as well over 20,000 bales including some big lots changed hands below the session’s high rate of Rs4,100 per maund, the lowest being Rs4,025.

“The market has been under selling pressure for the last couple of sessions for various reasons including ginners’ policy not to hold onto long unsold positions,” market source said.

The prevailing rates are said to be in line with the spinners export parity levels and the daily average mill intake of about 30,000 bales from the open market shows that the textile sector is back on the rails.

However, cotton analyst ruled out the possibility of any major change in the current price outlook and Rs4,000 per maund could be the benchmark price for both the ginners and the spinners amid market talk of higher crop estimates.

They said the price outlook is expected to be guided partly by the trend on the world markets and partly to the export performance of the textile sector in next two months, they added.

Official spot rates were lowered by Rs75 per maund in line with those at which daily business is being done.

New York cotton futures on the other hand resisted fresh fall and were quoted fractionally higher by 0.02 and 0.24 cents per lb at 61.68 and 64.04 cents, respectively.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling about 25,000 bales as under:

SINDH TYPE: 3,200 and 2,200 bales, Shahdadpur and Tando Adam at Rs4,065 to Rs4,075, 2,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs4,050 to Rs4,075, 2,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,025 to Rs4,065, 600, 400, 1,200 bales, Shahpur Chakkar, New Saeedabad and Hala at Rs4,075, 600 bales, Nawabshah at Rs4,050 and 600 bales, Hyderabad at Rs4,050.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs4,025 to Rs4,050, 1,000 bales each Burewala, Mian Channu and 1,200 bales, Chichawatni at Rs4,050 to Rs4,075, 600 bales, Arifwala at Rs4,050, 800 bales, Pak Pattan, at Rs4,025 to Rs4,050, 400 bales, Khanewal at Rs4,100 and 400 bales, Vehari at Rs4,050.