KARACHI, June 3: Trading on the cotton market on Saturday remained cheerless as ginners further raised their asking prices for the fine lots but spinners were not inclined to make fresh commitments.

New federal budget for the next year also took its toll as spinners were not inclined to make bigger commitments apparently awaiting fresh taxation proposals on Monday evening.

How the market will react to the new budget would be known on Tuesday as by that time positive and negative tax proposals will be known depending on relief for the textile sector to boost exports, market sources said.

The relative calm on the market was also attributed to reports of recent TCP tender at a time when spinners and mills were out to grab the floating stock even at the higher asking prices.

Some of the spinners, however, opted for inferior types offered by the ginners for blending purposes or to produce low-count cotton yarn for the local end-product users, brokers said.

They attributed the absence of leading spinners and mills from the market followed by reports that the TCP has invited another tender, which is expected to be opened on June 30, for the sale of 30,000 bales of cotton.

Although the fresh TCP tender is for grade three lint and some of the spinners who are in short supply are expected to bid to replenish their stock positions before the arrival of new crop, they said.

Meanwhile, reports about the new crop in the lower Sindh cotton belt where picking operations of phutti are well in progress indicate that stray incidents of pest attacks are reported but timely spraying by the growers killed insects and pest.

It was in this background that official spot rates were firmly held at the last levels amid slow ready off-take owing to the absence of leading spinners.

New York cotton futures on the other hand posted fresh rise of 0.57 and 0.35 cents per lb at 52.92 and 56.20 cents for both the ruling July and the distant October settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was light totalling 2,100 bales of inferior lots, from a Mirpurkhas ginnery done at Rs2,200 to Rs2,225 per maund.