KARACHI, Oct 15: Cotton market on Wednesday maintained a firm trend as ginners further raised their asking prices after growers slowed down phutti sales seeking better rates, floor brokers said.

The phutti arrivals did not dry up altogether but were too small for normal ginning operations, which in turn have a bullish impact on lint rates, they added.

“The cotton trade is again slipping into the hands of the growers after a brief bearish spell, spinners fear. “They may push prices again higher irrespective of the international parity levels making textile exports more expensive,” the added.Bulk of the business in the ready section was done about Rs50 per maund higher as compared to overnight deals, indicating that prices are expected to rebound to their pre-reaction levels based on the perceptions of a below target crop, market sources said.

On an average bulk of the ready business was done around Rs3,500 per maund after having fallen to Rs3,300 late last week, showing a rebound of Rs200 per maund.

“The normalcy returning to the foreign commodity markets is expected to push prices of the commodity again higher in the coming days with the resumption of routine activity,” they said.

Although New York cotton futures are stable above 50 cents per lb but they had failed to make fresh heady way as did the other markets owing perhaps to speculative selling, they added.

New York cotton futures unlike the previous sessions showed fractional price changes for both the ruling December and the forward March contracts at 50.17 and 54.59, easy by 0.05 and 0.02 cents per lb respectively.

Official spot rates on the other hand were firmly held at the last level of Rs3,450 but most of the deals in the ready section were done well above them.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling 30,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur and 1,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs3,450 to Rs3,500, 1,600 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,425 to Rs3,475, 400 Mirpurkhas, 400, 800 bales, Nawabshah, Salehpat and 1,200 bales, Hyderabad at Rs3,450.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000, 400, 600, 800, 400, Rajanpur, Janpur, Fazalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Kabirwala and Muhammadour Dewan at Rs3,500, 800 bales, Khanewal at Rs3,500 to Rs3,525, 600 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,450 to Rs3,500, 800 bales, Ahmedpur at Rs3,475 to Rs3,500, 400 bales, Chichawatni and 800 bales, Burewala at Rs3,450 to Rs3,500, 400, 1,000, 400, 200, 400, 400 and 200 bales, Haroonabad, Vehari, Layyah, Mian Channu, Chani Goth and Sargodha at Rs3,475, 200 bales each Bakhar, Shah Jamal and Shujabad at Rs3,450 per maund.