KARACHI: Cotton trading was slow on Friday as buyers restricted their activity owing to falling trend in world cotton markets.

Floor brokers said that buyers have changed their strategy after looking at the falling cotton prices in major world cotton markets. They have adopted wait-and-see policy in order to get some clue from the global trend, brokers added.

The trading activity also remained slow owing to closure of cotton markets in Punjab on Friday. However, most deals were materialised in Sindh variety because phutti (seed cotton) arrivals in Punjab were still limited.

Cotton analyst Naseem Usman said the local market was currently tracking global trend, and spinners were not ready to take risk on paying high cost for cotton.

Phutti prices also came under pressure owing to slow off-take of cotton from spinners and exporters, he added.

The Karachi Cotton Association cut its spot rate by Rs100, to Rs6,350 per maund (around 38 kilograms).

The following major deals were finalised on the ready counter: 1,800 bales from Shahdadpur (Rs6,400 to Rs6,600), 600 bales Nooriabad (Rs6,475 to Rs6,500), 200 bales Kunri (Rs6,550), 2,000 bales Tando Adam (Rs6,500 to Rs6,600), 1,600 bales Sanghar (Rs6,550 to Rs6,600), 1,400 bales Mirpurkhas (Rs6,550 to Rs6,600), 1,000 bales Hyderabad (Rs6,550 to Rs6,600), 800 bales Hala (Rs6,550 to Rs6,600) and 800 bales Kotri (Rs6,550 to Rs6,600).

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016