Firmness prevailed on the cotton market on Friday as both mills and ginners agreed on a meeting point, dealers said. The official spot rate was kept at the overnight level at Rs 4125, they said. The prices of phutti were unchanged at Rs 1800-1900 in Sindh, in the Punjab, the rates were at Rs 1800-1950, they said.
According to the market sources, the business trend was steady as ginners adopted flexible attitude due to big unsold stock and in anticipation of the better production during the current season.
The mills and exporters were busy in hectic buying following the news about the slight pest attack on the standing crop. In the meantime, it appeared that the prices may move both ways in the coming days, they added.
On Thursday, the US cotton futures fell to a two-day low to close down with grain and crude oil futures which slipped when the US government said it was ready to release strategic reserves if Tropical Storm Gustav damages Gulf Coast facilities, brokers said. Key December cotton futures finished with 1.27 cent losses at 69.36 cents a lb.
The December contract range slid to 68.62 from a high at 70.92 a lb, but fell short of Wednesday's two-week high at 71.18 cents a lb. After hours, December cotton was down 1.28 cents, or 1.81 percent, at 69.35 cents. By 2:52 pm (1852 GMT), the December contract volume tally was 8,306 lots.
The following deals were reported as some 3000 bales of cotton from Shahdadpur sold at Rs 4125-4150, 2000 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 4125-4135, 1000 bales from Sanghar sold at Rs 4125, 1000 bales from Mirpurkhas at Rs 4100-4125, 1000 bales from Khipro at Rs 4125, 600 bales from Shahpur Chaker at Rs 4125, 400 bales from Jhole at Rs 4125, 400 bales from Nawabshah at Rs 4125, 1000 bales from Hyderabad at Rs 4125, 400 bales from Hala at Rs 4125, 600 bales from Pakpattan 4075-4100, 400 bales from Bhawalnagar at Rs 4075, 600 bales from Arifwala at Rs 4075, 1000 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 4100-4125, 1000 bales from Mian Channu at Rs 4100, 100 bales from Burewala at Rs 4100-4125, 400 bales from Gojra at Rs 4100 and 200 bales from Muridwala at Rs 4100, dealers said.
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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pak Rupees
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FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/32"
MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
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Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Ex-Karachi
for Price Sales Tax @ 15%
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37.324 Kgs 4,125.00 100 4,225.00
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 4,421.00 100 4,521.00
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