KARACHI, March 28: Trading on the cotton market on Wednesday remained insipid as mills and spinners were conspicuous by their absence owing apparently to higher asking prices.

But some leading brokers said most of the spinners were directly purchasing modest lots of fine types from ginners, details of which were not immediately sent to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA).

Some others said spinners and mills were awaiting the final crop figures to be released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) during the next couple of days and will decide their future line of action.

The other inhibiting factor is said to be higher asking prices which are well above their export parity levels and mills are not inclined to go beyond their limits, they added.Floor brokers said ginners appeared to be well in command of the price situation on the basis of lower unsold stocks of hardly half a million bales.

“The physical activity may pick up after the release of arrival figures by the PCGA and spinners will decide whether or not to oblige ginners,” they said.

It was in this background that official spot rates were again firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,600 per maund.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed fractional rise of 0.10 and 0.06 cents at 53.39 and 54.41 cents per lb for both the ruling May and the distant July contracts respectively.

Mill ready offtake fell to just 300 bales, from a Khanpur ginnery at Rs2,700.