KARACHI, Dec 15: Trading activity on the cotton market on Thursday considerably slowed down as ginners again raised their asking prices amid rumours of fall in arrivals of phutti into ginneries.

For the first time after several actively traded sessions ready offtake fell to a few thousand bales and went to the credit of those spinners who were willing to pay a more, brokers said.

Unlike the overnight market stance, which reflected easy undertone, trading resumed on a higher note as ginners were not inclined to lower their selling prices and confidently held on to their unsold positions.

Most of the deals reported in physical trading were finalized around Rs2,425 as some of the brokers predicted that the lint may be a bit expensive in the sessions to come.

However, it is not clear whether or not export commitments of spinners and mills may be affected if prices rose further from the current levels, they said. “There could be some problems for those spinners who are still to go a long way to cover their forward sales against exports.”

They said textile exports during the first half year of the current financial year were on the higher side, showing an average increase of 14 per cent plus but the next quarter ending March 31, 2006 could be a bit difficult as foreign importers may revise their export parity levels in line with the increase in lint prices.

The futures trend will be guided by the fortnightly arrival figures of phutti due during the next couple of sessions but the current slowdown in the ready business reflects that the ginners have already a cue of the figure, they said.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the local yarn market shows that offtake of the ancillary industry is far below normal owing perhaps to a year-end factors, although prices have shown a modest improvement.

The official spot rates were, therefore, again held unchanged at the previous levels but in physical trading, the lint was a bit expensive.

New York cotton futures on the other hand attracted profit-selling at the higher levels and fell by 0.45 and 0.19 cents at 53.24 and 54.08 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the forward May contracts.

Mill buying in the ready section was relatively slow, falling to 7,000 bales, the following being some of them notable: 1,000 bales each, Rahimyar Khan and Ahmedpur East at Rs2,425; 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,400 to Rs2,425; and 1,000 bales, Uch Sharif at Rs2,400.