KARACHI, Nov 2: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Friday as spinners and mills were not inclined to take even a technical breather and lifted all the lots offered by the ginners for sale, floor brokers said.

But unlike previous sessions there were not many big deals as most of the deals were of retail nature as spinners opted for the policy of “go slow” in an apparent effort to not to fuel price flare-up, they added.

Most of the deals were, therefore, finalised around the overnight levels, the best level on which a couple of lots changed hands was Rs3,225 per maund, the lowest rate being Rs3,150.

A leading cotton analyst Naseem Usman said there is a loud whispering about the spinners’ option to go for bigger import to keep the local prices around the current levels, he said, but ginners are least worried over the perception as they fully knew the size of the crop and were sitting pretty comfortable on the unsold stocks.

“With New York cotton futures for the forward March contract around 70 cents per lb, the imports from any country, including central Asia are said to be a bit expensive,” market sources said adding that indications are that the leading spinners will rely on the local supplies till December and may opt for imports as by that time the size of the crop will be available.

Some other analysts are also of the view that the market is expected to heat up during the next couple of weeks as the impact of short crop is still to manifest itself in the price setting mechanism.

Official spot rates were again firmly held at the last level of Rs3,050 per maund, although most of the deals were done well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand fell by 0.34 and 0.39 cents per lb at 63.74 and 68.35 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March contracts, respectively.

Ready business was active totaling about 20,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals: 2,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,175 to 3,200, 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur, 800 bales, Khipro, 400 bales each, Mirpurkhas and Shahpur Chakar, at 3,075.

PUNJAB VARIRTY: 1,000 bales, each Liaquatpur, Rahimyar Khan, D.G.Khan,1,000 bales, Ahmedpur East, 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at 3,200, 500 bales, Rajanpur, 400 bales, each Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Chistian at 3,225.