KARACHI, Sept 24: Cotton market on Friday showed firm trend as ginners raised their asking prices in line with the official procurement rates announced by the government at which the TCP will purchase lint.

Some of the ginners immediately turn bullish and were sellers around Rs2,150 per maund as against the officially fixed rate of Rs2,159 and the consequent stand off on the ready front.

However, there was a temporary lull on the ready section as spinners were still in the process of evaluating impact of the TCP offer of sale of lint and mostly preferred to keep to the sideline. But some of the needy spinners facing pressure on their supplies lifted modest lots from the Sindh ginners at Rs2,150 while Punjab variety was traded slightly above this level, dealers said.

They said spinners and mills were expected to keep to the sidelines and may not indulge in fresh covering purchases until ginners lower their asking prices. "The current stand off will prevail for another couple of sessions as both the ginners and the spinners will try to outwit each other on the basis of higher crop predictions", says a leading broker.

However, spinners and mills may not immediately opt for buying from the TCP and await some negative impact of higher unsold stocks if they hold on to their long positions to bring the prices further down, he added.

Ginners said growers had also raised their asking prices to an average rate of around Rs1,000 per 40 kg but some of them were not holding back to their stocks and pushing it into the ginneries soon after picking.

Cotton analysts said next couple of sessions would show how the future price outlook shapes and in the meanwhile, ready off-take by the mills may remain low in apparent effort to un-nerve ginners and growers.

"The next couple of sessions may be crucial for the future price outlook as by that time all stakeholders of cotton trade will have an overview of the world markets and export prospects", they said.

It was in this background the official spot rates were upped by Rs25 at Rs2,075 but in the ready section some of the deals were done well above them. New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered modest decline of 0.39 and 0.37 cents for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts at 51.01 and 47.85 cents per lb respectively.

Ready off-take was light totalling about 5,000 bales, the following being notable among them: 500 bales, each Bandhi and Nawabshah at Rs2,150 and 4,000 bales from the Punjab ginneries at Rs2,125 and Rs2,150 per maund.