KARACHI, Oct 1: Cotton market on Friday passed through a relatively dull session as ginners and spinners remained locked in a price war but unlike the previous session the former held on to their positions rather than selling in panic.

Reports that ginners have opted for the TCP procurement centres to get a fair price and outwit spinners bear onslaught aided the underlying sentiment, keeping prices around the overnight levels, dealers said.

They said if the ginners have maintained a judicious balance in their selling options, both to the TCP and spinners they would not have been outwitted on the price front despite reports of a bumper crop."

"Prices of lint should have stayed above Rs2,000 per maund level but spinners being sole buyers overshadowed the TCP for a number of reasons including prompt payments and some procedural problems of trading with the latter," says a ginner. But after having thoroughly beaten by the spinners, sanity returned to the market and ginners found a safe haven in the shape of TCP, averting an imminent market crash, he said adding but in the meantime small grower has already received a massive battering.

There was, however, a relative lull on the ready section partly because of closure of some markets in the Punjab cotton belt owing to Shab-e-Barat and partly to ginners' reluctance to sell at the lower levels, they said.

The chief casualty was the ready off-take as both the sellers and the buyers kept to the sidelines as their price ideas failed to find a common meeting ground. Meanwhile, reports coming from the entire market indicate that panic among the growers continues and smaller among them are out to sell their stocks at the prevailing prices.

It was in this background that official spot rates were lowered by Rs75 per maund in line with the overnight decline.New York cotton futures suffered fresh modest fall of 0.10 and 0.66 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward December contracts at 48.10 and 46.35 respectively.

Ready off-take was modest as till late in the evening about 5,000 bales changed hands between Rs1.750 and Rs1,850 for Sindh type, while Punjab variety was sold above these rates.

The following are details of some notable deals finalized late on Thursday evening in the Punjab ginneries: 1,000 bales, Samundari at Rs.1,975, 1,000 bales, Hasilpur at Rs1,950, 1,000 bales, Fazalpur at Rs1,975 to Rs1,985, 600 bales, Aridwala Rs1,950 to Rs2,000, 600 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,000, 400 bales, Chigoth at Rs2,000, 200 bales, Mian Channu at Rs1,950, 400 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs1,975.00 and 600 bales, Gojra at Rs2,000.