Wait-and-see attitude adopted by the leading buyers on the cotton market on Friday in the absence of motivating factors, dealers said. The official spot rate was inert at Rs 5,800, they said. Prices of seedcotton in Sindh were at Rs 1900-2400 and in the Punjab at Rs 2200-2750, they said. In ready dealings about 3,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 5,300-5800, they added.
Some brokers said that cautious attitude was seen as mills and spinners were hoping further decline in the rates but the ginners did not show interest in selling. According to Reuters the NY cotton futures ended lower on technical selling by investors for the third straight session, but dealings stayed in a range and the market could drift into the weekend, analysts said.
Benchmark March cotton on ICE Futures US fell 1.33 cents, almost 1.4 percent, to end at 95.59 cents per lb, moving from 95.29 to 97.41 cents. It was an inside day as the range held within Wednesday's 94.59 to 98.05 band. Volume on Thursday amounted to about 14,800 lots, almost 7 percent below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Other report said that India's cotton production in 2011/12 season that began in October is seen at 34.5 million bales, down from the earlier forecast of 35.6 million bales, Textile Commissioner AB Joshi, said on Tuesday. "There have been yield losses in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which brought down the overall production," Joshi said. India's cotton exports estimate for 2011/12 have been revised upwards to 8.4 million bales from an earlier 8 million bales.
Reuters adds:
The following deals were reported: 200 bales of cotton from Khanewal sold at Rs 5300, 400 bales of cotton from Multan at Rs 5400, 1000 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 5750-5800, 400 bales from Hasil pur at Rs 5500, same figure from Fort Abbas at the same rate and same number from Hala at Rs 5000.
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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"
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MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
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Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Spot Rate Difference
For Price Ex-Karachi Ex. KHI. As Ex-Karachi
on 26.01.2012
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37.324 Kgs 5,800 130 5,930 5,930 NIL
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 6,216 130 6,346 6,346 NIL
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