Cotton market sees dull trading

KARACHI: The Karachi cotton market witnessed a dull trading session with mills, spinners and brokers engaged in not letting the spot rate fall below Rs 8,500 per maund level, traders at Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) said Tuesday.
The KCA maintained the spot rate at Rs 8,500 per maund, while several deals changed hands on credit for 30-45 days delivery period at different stations in Sindh and Punjab, floor brokers said. The spinners and mills purchased lint of all grades on competitive prices in Punjab and Sindh stations at around Rs 8,000-8,200 per maund during the trading session, brokers said.
The buyers were forced to buy poor grade lint in bulk, while the ginners also made deals on two-month credit with mills and spinners, market sources added.
The leading buyers with strong liquidity had already bought sizeable volumes of lint including fine stocks about three months earlier. “This time they are not anxious for fine grade and waiting for fresh crop arrival in late July,” analyst Shakeel Ahmad said. “Four hundred bales in Punjab changed hands at Rs 8,000 per maund on 30 days credit, while another deal changed hands at Rs 8,100 on two months forward delivery.”
Ahmad said medium and small-sized mills and spinning units in Punjab and Sindh were buying odd grades in order to keep supplies of raw cloth and yarn to the market. He said brokers were also in a position to keep hopes of the growers high for better price and in this regard supplies were made on credit on their directions. He said more than 280,000 bales of low grade were lying with the ginners in Punjab with some hundred bales of fine lint. The buyers in Punjab and Sindh made deals in coarse lint at around Rs 6,000 per maund to Rs 6,700 per maund.
He said around 9,000 bales changed hands in Punjab while buyers in Punjab also made some forward deals on a month’s credit above Rs 8,000 per maund.
He said international lint market was still in the correction phase as New York Futures market July stood at 153 cents per pound and October at 137 cents per pound. staff report

(Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C05%5C18%5Cstory_18-5-2011_pg5_12)