KARACHI, Sept 29: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Friday as spinners and mills continued to build up long positions at the falling prices.
For the third session in a row, ginners were out to clear their long positions, fearing fresh fall in prices as the arrival of phutti into the ginneries kept rising, floor brokers said.
Although some of the growers held back their stocks and did not sell at the lower rates, their weaker links continued to unload their positions at the lower levels but still above the official support prices, they said.
In physical trading, most of the deals in Sindh variety were finalised well below the official spot rates, while lint from Punjab ginneries was traded around Rs2,500 or slightly above depending on the quality, dealers said.
Barring few, leading spinners and mills are not interested in indulging in big-deal business on the perception that prices could fall further lower in the coming weeks after the official arrival figure of phutti for the fortnight ending Sept 30 are released.
As a result, most of the deals reported on Friday consisted of 200 to 800 bales on the lower and higher sides, respectively, although prices varied from lot to lot, dealers said.
Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the last level of Rs2,475 per maund but most of the deals in Sindh type were done well below them.
New York cotton futures suffered fresh fall of 0.50 and 0.80 cents at 50.00 and 51.41 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts, respectively.
Ready offtake was on the higher side of the daily average totalling about 12,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:
SINDF TYPE: 400 bales, Mirpurkhas, 200 Jhole, 200 new Saeedabad, 400 Moro, 200 Khidro and 200 bales Kot Lalu at Rs2,425; 800 bales, Shahdadpur, 200 bales, Hala, 200 bales, Kot Ghulam Muhammad, and 200 bales Bhandi at Rs2,450.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 400 bales each DG Khan, Arif Wala, Haroonabad, Tandlia, Jahania, 200 each bales, Chichawatni, Multan, Toba Tek Singh, and Pir Mahal, at Rs2,500; 2,000 bales, Burewala at Rs2,500 to Rs2,525; 400 bales, Tiba Sultan at Rs2,495 to Rs2,500; 400 bales, Mian Channu at Rs2,500 to Rs2,525; 600 bales, Hasiplur and 400 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,525 to Rs2,550; and 200 bales, Kabirwala at Rs2,550.