KARACHI, Oct 28: Cotton market on Tuesday resisted fresh fall as the prevailing panic among the ginners and the growers was defused followed by reports that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan will resume buying lint to ensure a fair price to the growers.

The underlying sentiment in part was also influenced favourably by rebound staged by the major foreign markets under the lead of New York cotton futures after having received massive battering during the last couple of sessions, analysts said.

“The reports of TCP’s entry to arrest the steep decline in cotton prices gave an immediate psychological boost to the stakeholders in the trade as was reflected by a status quo on the price front,” they said.

“A considerable fall in the ready business also reflected that ginners and growers held onto their positions and did not indulge in panic selling as they did during the last couple of sessions,” they added.

They said the fallout of the international financial turmoil may not be over as much would depend on the resumption of normal export of textiles, but the current pause indicates counter market forces will set the future price trend. Although arrivals of phutti have shown sharp rise, but the size of the crop will be known by early December when the most of the picking operations in the entire cotton belt will be in the final stage, they said.

However, one thing is clear that the total crop may well below the target, which in turn could give the needed boost to the falling prices of both lint and phutti, they added.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the overnight level of Rs2,900 per maund after having received a major shakeout from the seasonal highs.

New York cotton futures on the other hand recovered 0.87 and 0.63 cents at 47.10 and 50.95 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the forward March contracts respectively.

Ready business was on the lower side as ginners held onto their positions. The following were some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Nawabshah, 400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,900, 600 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,875 to Rs2,900 and 200 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,750.

PUNJAB TYPE: 400 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs2,950 to Rs3,000, 200 bales, Uch Sharif at Rs3,000, 400 bales, each Rajanpur, Liaquatpur and 200 bales, each Sahiwal, D.G. Khan and Chichawatni at Rs2,900.