KARACHI, Sept 25: Cotton prices on Thursday eased by Rs25 per maund as some of the leading ginners lowered their asking prices to clear the backlog of unsold stock before Eid holidays.

Despite delivery problems, spinners and mills were active buyers and reported to have signed deals for post-eid delivery when the freight rates are expected to come down, dealers said.

Leading among them are also probing the foreign markets and some of them had already signed forward deals below 60 cents per lb for December delivery, they added.

About 20,000 bales changed hands at Rs3,925 to Rs3,990 per maund depending on the quality of lint in trade, but Sindh type was again sold with a premium of Rs25 over its Punjab counterpart.

Bulk of the buying interest was again remained confined to the Sindh lint, which is said to be of a better quality as compared to central Punjab type damaged by rain and pest attack.

But cotton analysts attributed the decline to steep fall recorded in the New York cotton futures and speculation of further fall as the US markets are said to be still in crisis despite a massive rescue package proposed by President Bush to put the financial markets back on the rails.

After Wednesday’s limit-fall of well over two cents per lb, the New York cotton futures were also quoted further lower by 0.52 and 0.95 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts at 58.82 and 61.35 cents respectively.

However, despite persistent fall in New York cotton futures, which had made imports of lint more competitive, spinners and mills are currently busy lifting all the floating stock of the local lint at the prevailing rates, floor brokers said.

Official spot rates were lowered by Rs25 per maund in line with ready rates at Rs3,950.

The following are some of the notable deals done in the ready section.

SINDH TYPE: 1,600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs3,925 to Rs3,950, 1,000 bales, Nawabshah, 1,800 bales, Sanghar, 400 bales, Hyderabad at Rs3,950 to Rs3,975, 600 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at Rs3,955 to Rs3,965, 1,200 bales, Shahdadpur and 1,400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs3,975 and 200 bales, Hala at Rs3,975.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Burewala at Rs3,975 to Rs3,990, 400 bales, Khanewal at Rs3,990, 200 bales, Hasilpur at Rs4,000, 200 bales, Arifwala at Rs3,975, 600, 200, 200 and 200 bales, Chichawatni, Mamoo Kanjan, D.G. Khan and Gaggon at Rs3,950 and 400 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs3,925 to Rs3,950.