KARACHI, Nov 20: Cotton market resisted fresh fall on Thursday as ginners were not inclined to sell lint below Rs3,000 per maund and firmly held on to their unsold positions.

As a result, bulk of the business was finalised at an average rate of Rs3,000 per muand but some of the inferior lots in the central Sindh cotton belt were sold between Rs2,650 and 2,800, as a section of ginners tried to clear the backlog of low staple length lint.But lint from the upper Sindh was sold in line with fine types in the central and southern Punjab cotton belt at Rs3,000 per maund.

However, there was a considerable fall in the daily mill intake as some of the prospective buyers kept to the sidelines anticipating fresh fall in prices, market sources said.

They based their assessment on larger unsold stocks of two million bales plus lying in the ginneries, amid loud whispering that some of the ginners may opt for hasty selling to clear the payments of growers.

About Rs25 are tied to unsold stocks of lint and it is said to be a big amount keeping in view their operational activities and resource base, they said.

Floor brokers said sharp recovery beyond the bench mark of 40 cents per lb staged by the maturing December contract on the New York cotton futures market may be one of the reasons behind resistance of fresh decline.

But some others said the rally was caused by technical demands linked to settlement of outstanding dues in the matured December contract, which will be rung off the board during the next couple of sessions. Official spot rates were held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,950 but bulk of the business in the ready section was done well above them.

New York cotton futures showed divergent trend and while December contract rose by 1.42 cents per lb at 40.81 cents, the forward March showed a fractional fall of 0.06 cents at 41.78.

The following are some of the notable deals reported by the brokers on Thursday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 3,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,000, 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at 2,700 to 2,750, 1,200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,750 to Rs2,800, 1,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,650 to Rs2,750, 400 bales, Dadu at Rs2,800 and 600 bales, Khairpur at Rs2,750 to Rs2,800.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,400 bales, Hasilpur, 400 bales, each, Chani Goth, Yazman, Rahimyar Khan, Pir Mahal, 200 bales, Sadiqabad, 1,800 bales, Alipur, 1,200 bales, Burewala, 600 bales, D G Khan, 1,400 bales, Bahawalpur, 1,000 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs3,000, 200 bales, each Pakpattan and Layyah at Rs2,950.