KARACHI, Sept 20: Cotton prices on Saturday remained stable around the overnight levels amid brisk trading although bulk of the ready business was done well below the Rs4,000 per maund.

Floor brokers said most of the deals in the ready section both in Sindh and Punjab lint were quality-based, the lowest and the highest rates being Rs3,925 and Rs4,000 per maund respectively.

However, the grand rebound staged by the New York cotton futures and the breathing space provided by the massive intervention of the US government with injecting huge liquidity into the system to restore sanity to the commodities and financial markets indicates that the worst may by now be over, said a leading cotton analyst Naseem Usman.He said the current fall in local prices was due to the weaker rupee and larger than expected arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

New York cotton futures were quoted higher by 1.05 and 1.76 cents per lb at 59.80 and 62.52 for both the ruling October and forward December contracts, respectively. Spinners said the price levels were in line with their export parity rates and that was well-reflected by huge daily intake of about 50,000 bales, both from the open market and direct from the ginners. “Our new crop tally of well over a million bales reflects that no one among us is inclined to take supply risk at this stage,” said a leading spinner. “Everyone among us is trying to build-up long positions around the current rates as the crop outlook is uncertain and so is the import trade”.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again quoted unchanged at Rs3,950 per maund in the ready section most of the deals were done well above them.

Ready business was maintained on the higher side amounting to 35,000 bales as under:

SINDH TYPE: 3,600 and 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur and Tando Adam at Rs3,975 to 4,000, 1,000 bales, Hala, 600 bales each Hyderabad and Nawabshah at Rs3,975 and 1,400 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs3,940 to 3,965.

PUNJAB: 1,000 bales, Khanewal at Rs3,970 to Rs3,975, 1,000 bales, Burewala at Rs3,950 to 3,975, 1,200 bales and 600 bales, each Chichawatni, Pak Pattan and Arifwala at Rs3,925 to 3,950, 400 bales, each Bahawalnagar, Jahania and Lodhran at Rs3,950.