KARACHI, Oct 9: Cotton market finished the pre-election session on Wednesday on a firm note as ginners held on to their positions and did not lower their asking prices.

Unlike the previous sessions, spinners and mills were also not that keen to make fresh commitments owing to delivery problems. Most of the cargo haulers have withdrawn their vehicles off the roads amid fears of impounding by police for election duties, dealers said.

They said as spinners fear that physical delivery of the lots purchased from the ginners may not be possible till the next week, they preferred to keep to the sidelines.

Physical activity, therefore, remained at a low ebb as both the sellers and the buyers refrained making larger commitments ahead of national elections.

Floor brokers said leading spinners and mills have made near-panic buying during the last couple of sessions for immediate delivery in view of interruption in supplies because of election holiday.

“Picking operations of phutti remained suspended for the last couple of days because of pre-election activities, which in turn have slowed down arrivals of phutti into the ginneries and the consequent rise in prices”, they added.

But they ruled out the possibility of fresh increase in prices as cargo haulers are expected to be back on the roads and the lots already purchased by the spinners will be in their godown early next week or on Saturday, they said.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the southern Punjab belt indicate that leaves of the standing cotton plants in some areas are turning yellow, having negative impact on the opening of bolls and in some cases quality of the phutti.

However, indications are that there may not be any change in the projected size of the crop in this area, market sources said.

On the export front, Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has registered export contract for 400 bales, sold to a Dubai-based company on Oct 7, with the Export Promotion Bureau.

Official spot rates firmly held at the previous levels indicating a judicious equilibrium between supply and demand.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed a fractional decline of 0.5 and 0.12 cents per lb at 41.05 and 42.65 cents per lb for the both the maturing October and the ruling December settlements respectively.

Ready offtake was light totalling about 3,000 bales, both from the Sindh and the Punjab lint done between Rs1,950 on the lower side and Rs2,025 on the higher side depending on quality.