KARACHI, Sept 11: Trading activity on the cotton market on Tuesday slowed down as some of the leading ginners held on to their unsold positions in an effort to push prices higher.

The lead came from the Punjab ginners who were not inclined to sell their stocks around those levels at which bulk of the business was being transacted in the Sindh type, floor brokers said.

It was interesting to note that most of the deals were confined to the Sindh type while spinners did not opt for Punjab lint owing to higher asking prices.

They said during the last couple of sessions lint from both the cotton belts was being sold at par in most of the cases but Punjab ginners claimed their stuff was a bit better than its counterpart in the central Sindh. However, the lint from the upper Sindh ginneries and that of southern Punjab match both in quality and staple length and mostly fetched the same price, they added.

But some analysts said the increase in phutti prices had caused the sympathetic rise in lint prices as ginners passed on the hike to the spinners.

Earlier, the ginners from the Punjab cotton belt sold modest quantities whose staple length was affected by rain and pest attack, but the stuff was claimed to be of normal quality and must sell at a premium over the Sindh lint.

New York cotton futures were quoted higher by 0.65 and 0.75 cents per lb at 58.55 and 61.00 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts respectively.

There was, however, no change in the official spot rates which were quoted unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,775 per maund.

The following deals in Sindh lint were reported on Tuesday: 1,000 bales each Tando Adam, Shahdadpur, Nawabshah, 400 bales each Hyderabad and Shahpur Chakkar at Rs2,800 to Rs2,825, 400 bales each Mirpurkhas, Sarari and 1,200 bales, Khipro at Rs2,800 and 200 bales, Hala at Rs2,825.