RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Steady trend was seen on the cotton market on Tuesday in the process of improved trading activity, dealers said.

The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 9400, they added. In ready session, nearly 20,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 8500-9700, they said.

Rates of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh were at Rs 3600-4500 and in the Punjab prices were at Rs 3800-4800, they said. In Balochistan, seed cotton prices were at Rs 4200-4900, they said.

In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs 1400-1700 and in Punjab rates were at Rs 1550-1750, they said and adding that polyester fibre was at Rs 185.

According to market sources, mills indulged in hectic buying of fine type and it looks that mills may continue buying of best quality cotton to replenish their stock.

Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that in both Sindh and Punjab cotton crop damaged due to weather and pest attack. These negative developments propelled cotton buyers to lay hands over the best type of cotton.

Adds Reuters: ICE cotton edged lower on Monday as a firmer dollar weighed, while investors awaited a monthly world supply-and-demand forecast from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) later in the week.

Cotton contracts for December fell 0.40 cent, or 0.6%, to 63.83 cents per lb by 1:18 pm ET (1818 GMT). It traded within a range of 63.72 and 64.98 cents a lb.

Total futures market volume fell by 18,089 to 30,556 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 3,336 to 249,817 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals reported: 800 bales of cotton from Ghotki at Rs 9650, 400 bales from Khanpur Mehar at Rs 9650, 600 bales from Mirpur Mathelo at Rs 9700, 400 bales from Saleh Pat at Rs 9325, 2000 bales from Khairpur at Rs 9050/9150, 200 bales from Vehari at Rs 8500, 200 bales from Pak Pattan at Rs 8750, 400 bales from Layyah at Rs 8750, 600 bales from Burewala at Rs 8600/8800, 2600 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 9650/9700, 2200 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs 9600/9650, 600 bales from Khanpur at Rs 9650, 400 bales from Liaquatpur at Rs 9650, 1200 bales from Mianwali at Rs 9400/9450, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 9400, 800 bales from Ahmedpur East at Rs 9300, 1000 bales from Bahawalpur at Rs 9300, 1400 bales from Faqeerwali at Rs 9300, 1000 bales from Ghazi Ghat at Rs 9200, 400 bales from Bahawal Nagar at Rs 9000, 800 bales from Yazman Mandi at Rs 9300, 400 bales from Chistian at Rs 9000 and 600 bales from Hasilpur at Rs 8925/9000, they said.