KARACHI, Dec 3: Lint prices on Friday stayed stable around the overnight levels as both ginners and spinners awaited the release of phutti arrival figures for the fortnight ended Nov 30, 2004.

Floor brokers said the tactical pause ahead of the figures is understandable as lower or higher total could unsettle the market at least for the short-term. Spinners are expected to indulge in panic-buying fearing an increase in prices if the total is lower, while ginners will try to liquidate long positions if the arrivals are in line with the last couple of fortnights, they said.

For the last three months the arrival figures had been higher by 2m bales and if the same tempo was maintained there could be confusion among ginners and weaker-links could resort to hasty selling, pushing prices further lower, some others predicted.

However, for the last couple of sessions prices are about unchanged at Rs1,600-1,800 per maund for the Sindh type and Rs1,700-1,900 for the Punjab variety depending on the quality of lint.

While Sindh ginners are holding on to their positions their counterparts in the Punjab cotton belt where the crop figure is said to be much higher, are active sellers at the current rates.

On an average, about 40,000 bales are changing hands daily as spinners and mills were building up long positions at the current levels, bulk of which originated from the Punjab cotton belt.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the upper Sindh and the southern Punjab cotton belt where picking operations start a bit late, indicate that phutti arrivals are progressively drying up. It is, however, not clear whether or not the leading farmers are holding back their unsold stocks for a better price at the fag-end of the season.

Official spot rates were held unchanged at the last levels for the third session in a row at Rs1,825, although most of deals in the ready section were done above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand remained under pressure on speculative selling and fell further by 0.48 and 0.27 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March contracts at 47.40 and 43.62 cents respectively.

Ready off-take was not that aggressive as it has been a week earlier. About 20,000 bales, changed hands mostly from the Punjab ginneries, the following being some of the notable deals: 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur, 1,000 bales each, Yazman and Rajanpur at Rs1,875, 2,000 bales, Fort Abbas at Rs1,850- 1,875, 1,000 bales, Gojra at Rs1,860-1,875, 2,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs1,875- 1,900, 2,000 bales, Multan at Rs1,850-1,875, 2,000 bales, Dunyapur at Rs1,875- 1,885, 1,500 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs1,840-1,875, and 1,500 bales, Rajanpur at Rs1,870- 1,880.