KARACHI, Oct 10: Cotton market on Friday resisted fresh fall as ginners held onto their positions and were not inclined to lower their asking prices after having purchased phutti at much higher rates, floor brokers said.

Most of the deals in the ready section were done on the higher side, mostly between Rs3,450 to Rs3,500 per maund depending on the quality of lint, which were about Rs100 per maund higher as compared to overnight rates, they said.

Although New York cotton futures came in for renewed speculative selling in sympathy with the weakening currency markets, however the local market was guided by the supply and demand factors followed by reports of a short crop, they added.

New York cotton futures were quoted further lower by 1.24 and 1.14 cents per lb at 50.34 and 52.44 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward March contracts respectively, indicating that the ruling contract may fall below the 50-cent per lb in next couple of sessions, making imports more competitive, market sources said.

They said some of the leading spinners who are well-informed about the size of the local crop are already exploring the foreign markets and some of them had already signed forward deals around 55 cents per lb for January delivery.

“Any fall in the world cotton rates below 50 cents per lb will make imports more competitive despite the fact that textile prices will also fall proportionately, but the fears of short supply will be eliminated,” some spinners said.

Meanwhile, the weaker links of the big spinners are operating on the local market because of liquidity problems and meeting bulk of their demand from the local stuff.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the overnight level of Rs3,475 per maund after having fallen sharply lower during the last couple of sessions.

Mill ready off-take was on the lower side as most of the Punjab markets were closed as they observed Friday as weekly holiday. The following were some of the deals which gone through late on Friday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 800 bales, each Tando Adam and Shahdadpur Sanghar at Rs3,450 to Rs3,500, 600 bales, each Mirpurkhas and Shahpur Chakar at Rs3,400 to Rs3,450 and 400 bales, each Sakrand and Pung More at Rs3,400.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Khanewal at Rs3,500 to Rs3,515, 400 bales, Fazalpur at Rs3,500, 200 bales each Rajanpur and Haroonabad 600, 400 bales Burewala and Pak Pattan at Rs3,450.