KARACHI, Jan 9: The Pre-Eid holiday mood prevailed on the cotton market on Monday as buyers and sellers remained conspicuous by their absence apparently weighed down by delivery problems.

For the third session in a row, physical business remained at low ebb as no deal was officially reported by the leading brokers to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), market sources said.

But reports coming from the southern Punjab cotton belt, where bulk of the unsold stocks are lying with the ginners including substantial lots of fine lint, claim stray lots did change hands on Sunday for ready delivery, they said.

However, ginners appear to be not that enthusiastic to sell lint around the prevailing prices on the perception that a short crop could boost prices higher from the current levels.

Lint prices are stable between Rs2,350 and Rs2,400 per maund for the last couple of weeks as the spinners and mills make selective buying in each session apparently not to create panic-like market conditions, brokers said.

They said supply position would be clear during the post-Eid holiday trading sessions as by that the size of the crop would be clear after the arrival figure of phutti for the fortnight ending Jan 15, they added.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the world indicate a pressure on future supplies of lint as global production fell short of the total consumption during the current year.

New York cotton futures are steadily rising each session and currently are ruling well above 50 cents per lb at around 55 cent that are reflective of this perception, but the local spinners seemed be not that worried as they had already bridged the possible supply gaps through imports.

There was, therefore, no change in the official spot rates in the absence of any feedback from the ready market and were again quoted at Rs2,375 per maund.

There were no official figures for the ready business, but some brokers said about 2,000 bales from southern Punjab and upper Sindh ginneries changed hands at Rs2,400 per maund.