KARACHI, Aug 6: Cotton prices maintained a bullish outlook on Wednesday as pressure on ready supplies owing to ongoing ginners strike did not allow spinners to keep to the sidelines.

A modest business was reported as some of the ginners offered to sell their stocks in an apparent move to keep the wheels of industry moving, floor brokers said.

They said ginners had agreed to accept fresh lots of phutti from the growers after official assurance that their demands would be considered at the higher levels shortly.

However, normal ginning operations are expected to resume in next couple of days after phutti arrivals attain daily average figure at this time of the season, they added.

Ginners said growers were not inclined to hold onto their long unsold positions as the current rates above Rs2,000 per 40 kg were competitive and they mostly sold on the spot basis.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here about the recent monsoon spell indicate that the entire cotton belt has a above normal rain, which they claim has washed away most of the pests from the standing crop, market sources said.

Official spot rates did not show any change and were firmly held at the higher level of Rs4,200 per maund, but some of the fine lots were traded modestly higher than it.

The New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fresh fractional decline of 0.07 and 0.10 cents per lb at 66.97 and 69.03 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward December settlements, respectively.

The following deals were reported by the brokers: 400 bales, Sanghar, 200 bales, Mirpurkhas and 200 bales, Gaggon at Rs4,200, 100, 600 and 200 bales, Bahawalnagar, Pak Pattan and Burewala at Rs4,250 and 100 bales, Mirpurkhas for Aug 12 delivery at Rs4,150.