Trade activity came down on the cotton market on Saturday as buyers adopted cautious attitudes towards new deals, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 8100 ahead of Ashura holidays, they added. In ready session, about 4000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 7750 and Rs 8600, they said. Rates of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh were at Rs 3000-3600, in Punjab prices were at Rs 3200-3800, they said. In Balochistan, seed cotton prices were at Rs 3600-3700, they said.

In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs 1400-1550 and in Punjab rates were at Rs 1550-1650, they said and adding that polyester fibre per kg rates were at Rs 180. According to the market sources, buyers preferred to be on the sidelines due to quality factor. In fact, the supply was short of demand, which restricted volume of business. The spinners were facing lint quality problem because rains impacted cotton quality and this could also hit the production.

In the meantime, cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that the Punjab cotton remained free of moisture because recent rains proved beneficial for the standing crop in the field. Adds Reuters: ICE cotton futures fell nearly 1% on Friday, hurt by uninspiring export sales data and as investors used small gains to sell the natural fibre, which has been hit by lack of demand.

Cotton contracts for December settled down 0.54 cent, or 0.91%, at 58.58 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 58.03 and 59.86 cents a lb. Total futures market volume rose by 1,870 to 24,605 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,178 to 226,049 contracts in the previous session. The following deals reported: 400 bales of cotton from Shahdadpur at Rs 7800, 600 bales from Hyderabad at Rs 7750/7800, 600 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 7750/7800, 400 bales from Khanewal at Rs 8600, 1400 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 8350/8400, 200 bales from Chistian at Rs 8250 and 200 bales from Faqeerwali at Rs 8250, they 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"

                    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 06-09-2019

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37.324 kg          8,100      160         8,260        8,260            Nil

Equivalent

40 kgs             8,681      171         8,852        8,852            Nil

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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