KARACHI, Jan 9: Cotton market on Friday lacked normal trading interest as both the buyers and the sellers adhered to their respective positions apparently awaiting fresh developments on the world front.

The chief casualty being in the process was the ready business as with the exception of some needy mills, leading spinners and textile group who generally set the trend for the market to follow, were again conspicuous by their absence, dealers said.

"Both spinners and ginners are indulging in a battle of wits for the last couple of sessions in a effort to get a better deal price-wise but ginners are holding the fort and for good reasons too," they added.

While ginners firmly held on to their unsold positions followed by predictions that prices could rise from the current levels after the arrival figures for the fortnight ending Jan 15, are released, spinners think prices could fall from the current levels in line with world rates owing to selling.

Reports that some of the leading cotton producers have recently harvested good crop, India being on the top followed by Brazil and some central Asian countries, users hope the anticipated selling could influence prices lower in the weeks to come, some analysts said. But some others said China is on the world market with a big shopping list to make up the possible crop shortfall and so long it is buyer prices may remain on the higher side.

The current highly erratic price movements on the New York Cotton Exchange reflective of this fact as prices there rise and fall with limit-gain or limit-fall for the last couple of weeks, they said.

After having fallen sharply lower a day earlier, New York cotton futures on Thursday rose by 1.09 and 0.95 cents per lb at 75.13 and 76.25 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the forward May settlements respectively. However, for the near-term, the local prices are generally guided by supply and demand factors. They rise when spinners indulge in panic buying and fall when buyers stay on the sidelines.

Official spot rates, therefore, remained pegged at the last level of Rs3.275 per maund, while in the ready section some of the deals were done according to quality. Ready offtake was modest as till late in the evening about 10,000 bales changed hands. The following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales, Jhole at Rs3,025, and 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,950 to Rs3,030.