KARACHI, Nov 16: Cotton prices on Friday showed a modest increase of Rs25 per maund as spinners continued to build-up long positions at the prevailing prices.

The notable feature was that bulk of the mill buying remained confined to the Punjab lint, dominated by big deals, leading to price flare-up.

After remaining stable around the previous levels for the last couple of sessions around Rs3,250, ginners raised their asking prices in the backdrop of fall in arrivals of phutti, analysts said and linked the decline to holding back of stocks by some leading and progressive growers to push prices higher.

Although, there was no official confirmation, a leading broker said some of the deals were recorded at Rs3,300 per maund late in the evening but in official trading highest deal was done at Rs3,275 for fine type, they said.

They fear panic buying by leading spinners and mills may push prices further higher in the coming sessions if sanity is not returned to the cotton trade.

“The local market is behaving quite opposite to the New York cotton futures, which are under pressure for the last about a week,” said a leading broker, adding “any further fall could make import of lint more competitive”.

Meanwhile, spinners are awaiting the arrival figures of phutti for the fortnight ended Nov 15 as they will give a fair idea of crop size and the future price outlook.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again quoted unchanged at the overnight level of Rs3,175, but most of the deals were done well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand posted fresh decline of 1.45 and 1.28 cents per lb at 61.70 and 66.48 for both the ruling December and distant March contracts respectively.

Ready business was on the higher side totalling 25,000 bales.

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,175, 800 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,150, 400 bales Dadu at Rs3,200, 400 bales, Shahpur Chakar at Rs3,175 and 1,000 bales, Khairpur at Rs3,225 to Rs3,250.