KARACHI, June 26: The current crop prices on Thursday eased modestly as some of the ginners offered to sell stray lots at the lower rates, but there were no matching buying offers from the spinners.

As a result, physical business remained light as spinners and mills awaiting some panic selling from the ginners kept to the sidelines most of the time, dealers said.

However, leading among the spinners appear to be more keen to have some stocks of the new crop for blending purposes to give a new look to the yarn being produced for the export markets, they said.

New crop prices for the nearby delivery were, therefore, quoted higher by Rs25 per maund as compared to Rs2,325 a couple of days earlier.

Floor brokers said in the absence of strong mill buying and falling daily volumes, the direction of the market was unclear as leading ginners were not inclined to lower their asking prices for the fine lots.

Thus the standoff has been continuing for the last about six weeks as ginners have taken a rigid stand and are not in a mood to sell their contamination-free lots below Rs2,500, they said.

They said there was a difference of about Rs100 between the selling prices of the current and the new crops and spinners have opted for the new crop to balance their export parity levels, they added.

However, it is speculated physical activity in the ready section is expected to be normal by the middle of the next month as by that time new crop lint from the central Punjab ginneries will also be available.

“The new crop prices are expected to stabilize around Rs2,250 per maund by the end of the next month as by that time supplies will show a significant increase,” some spinners believe.

Meanwhile, the price situation on the New York cotton market has undergone a major change owing to strong speculative support and rolling of positions from the maturing July settlement to the new crop October delivery.

After having fallen sharply for the last couple of sessions, New York cotton futures on Wednesday recovered to close higher by 1.80 and 1.42 cents per lb at 55.33 and 57.76 cents per lb for both the July and October settlements, respectively.

Official spot rates were lowered by Rs10 per maund at Rs2,415 after several weeks depending on quality premiums.

Ready offtake was light totalling 400 bales of Mirpurkhas at Rs2,350 for delivery between July 1 to 20, 2003.