KARACHI, Oct 15: The cotton market on Saturday gave another volatile performance as ginners again lowered their asking prices followed by reports of steady arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

Bulk of the business in the ready section was done below Rs2,400 per maund in the Sindh type and around Rs2,400 in Punjab variety depending on the quality of lint and its staple length, market sources said.

They said the future market trend would largely be guided by arrival figures for the fortnight ended Oct 15, as higher and lower total would influence prices on both sides of the scale.

But what seems to have caused the erratic price movements during the last couple of sessions are conflicting reports about the pace of arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

Although official arrival figures are expected to be released by the middle of the next week, some private sources, who conducted private surveys about the condition of the crop, indicate that the crop may not be that short as widely speculated.

The lowering of phutti prices by some of the ginners has been taken by some ginners as a sign of a normal crop with minor adjustments here and there after taking into account the rain and flood losses in some areas of the Punjab cotton belt, brokers said.

Official spot rates, which recovered Rs50 after the last two sessions’ fall of Rs175 per maund, were again quoted lower by Rs25 on selling by some of the leading ginners.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose further by 0.75 and 0.44 cents per lb at 56.93 and 58.39 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March 2006 contracts, respectively.

Ready offtake was active totalling about 10,000 bales, mostly from the Punjab ginneries, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 600 bales, Tando Ghulam Muhammad, 600 bales Nawabshah and 800 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,350 to Rs2,375; 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,275 to Rs2,375.