KARACHI, Dec 29: Cotton prices on Thursday remained stable around the previous levels but spinners and mills kept to the sidelines most of the time owing perhaps to delivery problems and higher freight rates.

Unlike the previous sessions, physical business fell to a modest proportion as some of the ginners raised their asking prices for fine lots, some of which were traded as high as Rs2.41.

The fall in ready mill intake was also attributed to approaching Eid holidays and New Year closing of world markets, including the New York Cotton Exchange.

Floor brokers said the spinners were expected to resume the New Year buying after having an overview of their stock positions and to fill on the supply gaps accordingly.

The interesting feature is that the New Year will make its debut amid conflicting reports about the size of the crop and the future price outlook, they said. “The leading ginners are holding on to their larger unsold positions on the perceptions that the arrivals phutti figures are expected to push prices further higher from the current levels aided by lower crop estimates.”

That is perhaps why the ginners are not worried over the larger unsold stocks of well over 2m bales, despite the fact that about Rs25 billion are tied to them.

Official spot rates were held unchanged at the last levels but some of the deals reported in the ready section were finalized above them, mostly for fine lots. New York cotton futures on the other hand posted fresh gains of 0.27 and 0.26 cents per lb for both the ruling March and forward May contracts at 54.07 and 54.86 cents, respectively.

Ready offtake was relatively slow totalling 7,000 bales as under: 2,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,400 to Rs2,415; 1,000 bales each Rahimyar Khan, Ahmedpur East and Bahawalpur, and 400 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,400.