KARACHI, Oct 9: The cotton market on Thursday remained under pressure on renewed selling as official spot rates were quoted further lower by Rs75 per maund, but analysts said prices resisted fresh fall in the late-trading.

Bulk of the ready mill off-take was confined to the Punjab type at an average rate of Rs3,400 per maund but unlike the previous session Sindh variety was traded lower at Rs3,350 to Rs3,400 per maund.

“It may not be the end of panic-selling borrowed from the turmoil on the world commodity markets, the supply and demand factors seemed to have restored sanity to the cotton trade at least for the near-term,” they added.

The market also derived strength from the New York cotton futures where both the contracts not only resisted fresh fall after having declined by more than 15 cents during the current financial and commodity market crash, but also rebounded from the recent lows, they added.

The matured October settlement liquidated at 51.58 cents per lb and the newcomer forward March contract was quoted higher by 0.20 cents after it made debut at 58.98 cents, while the ruling December rose by 0.34 cents at 53.38 cents.

Floor brokers said the current level reached by the New York Cotton Futures were attractive enough for any prospective buyer and indications were that both the contracts could rebound.

They said the local market was expected to behave in line with supply and demand factors in the coming sessions but one thing appeared certain that prices could rebound from the current lows followed by recovery on the world markets.

Owing to fall in lint prices and sympathetic decline in phutti rates, leading growers are holding onto their unsold stocks to sell them around the previous level of well over Rs1,800 per 40 kg.

Mill ready off-take showed some improvement totaling 20,000 bales, the following being some notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, each Shahdadpur and Tando Adam at Rs3,350 to Rs3,400, 1,000 bales, Nawabshah and 400 bales, Shahpur Chakar at Rs3,400 and 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,375 to Rs3,400.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs3,435 to Rs3,450, 1,000 bales, Pak Pattan, at Rs3,400 to Rs3,435, 400 bales, Kabirwala at Rs3,550, 200 bales, Makhdoompur at Rs3,525, 400 bales, Mian Channu at Rs3,500 to Rs3,515, 600 bales, Rajanpur at Rs3,475 to Rs3,500, 400 bales, Fazalpur at Rs3,445 to Rs3,475, 200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,435 to Rs3,450, 200 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs3,450, 400 bales, Arifwala and 200 bales, Gojra at Rs3,425, 200 bales, each Mamu Kanjan, Muhammadpur, Ghazi Ghat, Gaggon, Chistian, Shujabad and Haroonabad at Rs3,400 and 200 bales, Multan at Rs3,385.