Prices firmed on the cotton market on Friday amid restricted selling by the ginners, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5950, they said. In the ready session, as a result of cautious selling by ginners, trading activity came under pressure so over 12,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 5850-6225, they said. In Sindh seed cotton prices were higher by Rs 50 to Rs 2800-2800 and in the Punjab, rates were at Rs 2600-2850, as per 40 kg, they said.

Some experts were of the opinion that the ginners refrained from new deals owing to falling rates the world over. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said the ginners were not ready to oblige the buyers, anticipating about the rise in prices in the coming days. Rates were on the downside after fading the fears of likely damages by the hurricanes in the US, other brokers said.

Adds Reuters: ICE Cotton futures ended nearly unchanged in low-volume trade on Thursday, hovering near three-week lows hit in the previous session on bearish weekly export sales data from the US Department of Agriculture. Cotton contracts for December settled up 0.03 cent, or 0.04 percent, at 69.12 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 68.43 and 69.45 cents a lb. In the previous session, prices touched 68.31 cents a lb - the lowest level since August 25.

The following deals reported: 200 bales from Tando Mohammad Khan at Rs 5850, 400 bales from Kotri, 600 bales from Sanghar, 400 bales from Mirpurkhas all done at the same rate, 800 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 5900-6000, same figure from Hyderabad at Rs 5850-5900, same figure from Shahdadpur at Rs 5900-6000, 1000 bales from Nawabshah at Rs 6000-6050, 2000 bales from, Khairpur at Rs 6050, 1000 bales from Rohri at the same rate, 200 bales from Mianwali at Rs 6100, same figure from Mohammadpur Dewan at Rs 6150, 400 bales from Shadan Lund, 600 bales from Burewala, 400 bales from Rajanpur, 1000 bales from Haroonabad all done at the same rate, 800 bales from Fazilpur at Rs 6150-6200, 400 bales from Dera Gazi Khan at Rs 6200 and 200 bales from Khanewal at Rs 6225, dealers said.

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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pakistan Rupees

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FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/16"

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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 14.09.2017

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37.324 kg         5,950       145         6,095        6,095            NIL

Equivalent

40 kgs            6,377       155         6,532        6,532            NIL

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2017