KARACHI, July 7: Trading on the cotton market on Friday remained relatively slow partly because of a short session and partly to the absence of leading spinners eyeing the TCP tender due on next Monday.

Floor brokers said the recent spell of monsoon rains in the Sindh cotton belt was beneficial for the growth of newly sown crop but some others feared its longer duration could provide a breeding ground for the insects and pests, which generally attack the cotton crop.

However, the timely rain is welcomed by the growers in the backdrop of some problems being faced by them in regard to irrigation water.

But on the other hand picking operations of phutti has to be suspended in the lower Sindh cotton belt as the moisture content and wet fields did not allow pickers to perform their job efficiently, some others said.

The picking operations are expected to be resumed after a week if there is no fresh rain spell and weather remains clear of clouds, they added.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from the lower Sindh ginneries show that arrivals of phutti have been stopped because of rain and some of them have to suspend their ginning operations and may not be able to meet their delivery schedules against forward deals with the spinners.

Some of the deliveries meant for July 10 and 12 may be delayed owing to interruption caused by the recent rain spell but ginners have not yet indicated to the spinners about the possible delay.

Official spot rates were, therefore, held unchanged in the absence of any feedback from the ready counter.

New York cotton futures on the other hand stayed easy and were fractionally lower by 0.05 and 0.10 cents per lb at 49.15 and 51.15 cents for both the matured July and ruling October settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was light as till late in the evening about 2,000 bales, both from the central Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belts changed hands below the average rate of Rs2,600 per maund.