Trading activity was sluggish as mills and spinners kept on the sidelines in perception of good crop and falling demand in the international market, analysts said. The ginners, however, keen to sell the unsold stock at the present prices, in the meantime, the mills were not taking interest in fresh buying, hoping prices to come down in the coming down, they said. Besides, the exporters showed little interest in purchasing of cotton as they also wanted to know the present developments, they said. Naseem Usman said that the Federal Minister for Textile Industry, Makhdoom Shahabudin held the long discussions with the Board of Directors and the members of the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) on the cotton production, exports of cotton and several other problems of the textile sector.
According to the Reuters, on Tuesday, most US cotton futures settled higher, rallying with other commodities, especially crude oil, and the euro as investors found relief from European officials' agreement to a debt bailout deal for Greece. New benchmark May futures on ICE Futures US closed at 92.97 per lb, up 0.32 cent. Despite the buying interest, May futures established an inside range for the day, meaning a higher low and a lower high, moving from 92.46 to 93.79.
The session low continued to hold within the parameters of an uptrend line that began at the December 14 bottom at 84.23. May volume came to a robust 12,719 lots shortly after the exchange session finished. March cotton edged lower heading into the close, finishing down 0.20 cent at 91.25 cents per lb. It was the lowest close since February 10.
The following deals were reported: 200 bales of cotton from Adda Flour at Rs 5200, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 5250, 200 bales from Khichi Wala at Rs 5300, 200 bales from Mamo Kanjan at Rs 5300, 400 bales from Hasil Pur at Rs 5300, 400 bales of cotton from Chistian at Rs 5300, 200 bales from Basti Malook at Rs 5600, 1000 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 5700-5750, 400 bales of cotton from Jalal Pur at Rs 5725, 400 bales from Ghazi Ghat at Rs 5800, 400 bales from Mian wali at Rs 5800 and 400 bales from Sadiqabad 5800, they said.