KARACHI: Trading on the cotton market was slow on Friday amid subdued demand from spinners and global slowdown.

Floor brokers said a downtrend in the New York cotton market for the last four days pushing down all the future contracts below 60 cents per lb and a long closure of Far-Eastern and Chinese markets on account of Lunar New Year kept activity slow.

Moreover, many spinning mills facing financial crisis were operating much below their capacity, with a couple of units having already shut down in Punjab, brokers said.

The rapid fall in crude oil prices in the world market has directly depressed prices of basic commodities, including cotton, they added.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) lefts its spot rates unchanged.

Major deals on ready counter were: 200 bales from Shahdadpur (Rs4,585), 200 bales from Hyderabad (Rs4,600), 200 bales from Maroot (Rs5,300), 400 bales from Sher Sultan (Rs5,300), 800 bales from Bahawalpur (Rs5,375 to Rs5,575), 400 bales from Khanpur (Rs5,550) and 400 bales from Yazman Mandi (Rs5,600).

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2016