KARACHI, Dec 9: Cotton market on Thursday maintained a firm outlook as ginners held on to their unsold positions for the fourth session in a row and did not lower their asking prices.

But rather some of the big deals were done Rs25 per maund higher as compared to the overnight level and spinners were obliged to toe the line of ginners, brokers said.

"Ginners may still not be in a commanding position as far as ready prices are concerned as reports from the world markets are terribly bearish but indications are that they have decided not to sell below their parity levels", they said.

Although large unsold stocks of lint above 2m bales are having a negative impact on their liquidity positions, they appeared to be in a mood to hold on to them to keep prices stable, they said.

Terribly volatile price pattern on the New York Cotton Exchange amid reports of higher surplus of unsold stocks after meeting the consumption demand of the global textile industry could emit bearish signals on the world markets, some other said.

For the last couple of weeks, New York cotton futures are fluctuating between 48 cents per lb on the higher side for the ruling contract and 42 cents on the lower side, never allowing spinners to plan on long-term basis if they opt for fresh import to make up the shortfall.

According to initial figures, world surplus of lint cotton is billed above 3m to 4m bales, which could upset the market trend if speculative forces use it as a bearish tool to push prices down at a later stage.

However, it is now pretty clear some of the major producers including Pakistan, India, China and the US are on the threshold of harvesting bumper crop during the current season. It was perhaps in this background that official spot rates were revised upward by Rs25 per maund at Rs1,865 but most of the deals in physical trading were done around Rs1,925.

New York cotton futures on the other hand fell by 0.59 and 0.61 cents per lb at 42.60 and 43.13 for both the maturing December and the ruling March contracts respectively. Ready off-take was light totalling about 14,000 bales, mostly from the Punjab ginneries as under:

SINDH TYPE: 800 bales, Gothki at Rs1,925.