KARACHI, March 29: Cheerless trading conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Wednesday as spinners and mills remained conspicuous by their absence ahead of the TCP tender on Friday.

Stray lots, however, changed hands as some of the needy spinners who apparently are not participating in the March 31 TCP tender for the sale of 50,000 bales were in the market and purchased modest lots.

Dealers said the direction of the market will be clear during the first week of April as by that time the outcome of TCP tender in regard to selling prices and final crop figures will be known.

“By that time spinners and mills will decide whether to await another sale tender by the TCP or to go for unsold stocks lying with the ginners,” they said adding that in the process price could rise from the current levels.

Leading brokers said some of the ginners who still hold long unsold positions are getting worried in the absence of normal mill buying owing to allied financial burden.

One thing is, however, clear that their gamble of higher prices at the end of the season failed and they are now at the mercy of spinners and mills who enter and exit market according to their own whims, they said.

Incidentally, most of the ginners had already cleared unsold stocks of low-mix lint and bulk of over a million bales is said to be of fine quality and could get competitive price before the arrival of new crop from the lower Sindh ginneries, they added.

On the export front, private sector exporters had, by the end of January, physically shipped 0.237m bales to various countries against forward sales, which also included old crop from the previous season.

There was, therefore, no change in the official spot rates, although some of the deals were finalized well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand turned mixed. While the ruling May fell by 0.19 cents at 52.91, the distant July showed a fractional rise of 0.4 cents at 54.55 cents per lb.

Ready off-take was modest totalling 2,000 bales, the following being notable among them; 1,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,475, 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,200 and 200 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,450.