KARACHI, March 14: Cotton market on Friday showed a firm trend as spinners and mills continued to cover their forward positions against forward sales of textiles.

Another 10,000 bales changed hands at varied rates in line with quality premium, and some of the fine lots were traded as high as Rs3.525 per maund, while inferior lots were traded around Rs3,375 to Rs3,400. But leading ginners, who hold bulk of the unsold stocks, were reluctant sellers around the prevailing prices amid analyst predictions that prices could rise further at the fag-end of the season.

However, they are said to be inclined to clear the backlog of low quality lots at the current rate of about Rs3,400 per maund.

Some of the spinners and mills are also inclined to make bigger commitments at the prevailing prices amid hopes the current speculative squeeze on the New York cotton futures may ease after the US export and production figures are out possibly shortly.The modest fall of 1.25 and 1.22 cents in New York cotton futures on Friday at 80.81 and 83.39 cents per lb indicates that there could be a further pruning as some of the speculative traders may opt for profit-selling.

Meanwhile, spinners and mills said the latest arrival figure of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ending on March 15, due next week may not prove a bullish factor as their impact had already been absorbed by the market.

But steady inflow of imported stuff from various sources could certainly check fresh increase in prices during the next couple of weeks, market sources said.

Official spot rates were again firmly unchanged at the previous level of Rs3,350 per maund, while in physical trading most of the deals were quality-based.

The following were some of the notable deals late on Friday evening: 2,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,450 to Rs3,500; 1,000 bales, Daulatpur at Rs3,375 to Rs3,400; 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,400 and 1,200 bales, from Punjab ginneries at Rs3,525.