KARACHI, Sept 17: Cotton market on Tuesday showed firm trend as most of the deals in physical trading were finalized at the higher rates amid moderately active activity.

Arrivals of phutti into the ginneries are below the normal daily figures at this time of the season as leading growers are holding back stocks to keep prices on the higher side, dealers said.

Unlike the previous sessions, instances of big-lot business were not lacking as leading spinners continued to build-up long positions below the Rs2,000 per maund mark.

But much of the buying interest again remained confined to the central Sindh lint as a vast difference in the micronaire did not allow spinners and mills to make bigger commitments in the Punjab variety.

However, some of the leading spinners, having substantial export orders in their kitty for the quarter ending December 31, are on that enthusiastic buyers at the current levels as their statistical position is fairly comfortable, brokers said.

“They are eyeing further decline in New York cotton futures, which in their opinion are heading to fall below the 40 cent per lb levels during the next couple of weeks”, they added.

A leading spinner also toed the market’s general line of thinking saying “we will resume aggressive buying after evaluating the parity level between the local and world prices and opt for the cheaper one”.

There is also a perception and shared by the spinning sector as a whole that prices could fall from the current levels after picking operations of phutti are resumed in the upper Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belts, the two major producers of medium long staple lint meant to spin higher counts of cotton yarn, they added.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the central Punjab cotton belt indicate that most of the ginners are willing to sell their lint around or below its Sindh counterpart for quality reasons.

Contrary to higher rates in physical trading, official spot rates were further lowered by Rs25 per maund for no apparent reason.

Ready offtake was slow as till late in the evening 5,000 bales from the Sindh ginneries changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals: 1,000 bales, Hala at Rs1,975, 1,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs1,975, 400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs1,975, 200 bales, Maqsooda at Rs1,950 and 600 bales, Hyderabad at Rs1,960.