KARACHI, Dec 24: Cotton prices on Tuesday remained stable as both buyers and sellers took a breather to have an overview of their respective inventories before opting for fresh deals.

The notable feature was that 500 bales of a special quality from a Bahawalpur ginnery was sold at Rs2,200 per maund, billed as the highest rate of the current season for a contamination-free lint.

The special quality lint is reportedly ginned from a newly developed variety of cotton sown on experimental basis in that area, market sources said.

Higher prices ideas from the world markets, notably the New York Cotton Exchange also proved a stabilizing factors as leading ginners held on to their positions on the perception that the local stuff could also fetch higher prices in the sessions to come.

New York cotton futures on Monday rose by 0.72 and 0.31 cents per lb at 52.17 and 55.07 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the distant May settlements, respectively, followed by reports of pressure on world supplies.

Some leading spinners speculate that ginners may resort to hasty selling possibly by the last week of the current year to meet year-end bank demands to readjust their overdraft limits.

Banks lend huge funds to both the spinners and the ginners in the form of overdraft limits to purchase raw materials and in most of the cases the lending banks demand clearing before Dec 31.

However, a substantial decline in the ready business reflects that both spinners and the ginners are facing the same problem and may go slow during the next couple of sessions.

Floor brokers, therefore, did not expect a major change in the current price pattern for the near-term and the correct market outlook will be known by early next year depending largely on supply and demand positions.

On the export front, a private sector exporter sold 600 bales to Indonesia on Dec 21, the total foreign sales so far being 52,874 bales.

Official spot rates remained pegged at the last close as there was no change in the quality of lint in trade.

Ready offtake was relatively slow as about 20,000 bales both from the Sindh and the Punjab ginneries changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 600 bales from Mirpurkhas and 400 bales from Sanghar at Rs1.825.