KARACHI, Aug 19: Cotton prices on Tuesday eased further for the second day in a row on the relative strength of the rupee against the US dollar and renewed selling by some of the leading ginners.

About 20,000 bales including some big lots changed hands at Rs4,100 to Rs4,200 per maund depending on the quality of lint, although bulk of the demand remained confined to the central Sindh variety apparently for quality reasons, floor brokers said.

The perception that prices could decline further in sympathy of falling international prices triggered hasty-selling by some of the ginners, they said.

The New York cotton futures however resisted fresh fall after a protracted bearish spell but were still ruling well below their benchmark of 70 cents per lb making imports competitive around 65 cents per lb, they said.

The fear that spinners and mills may opt to imports forced some of the weak ginners to lower their asking prices, some others said.

“The fall of Rs200 per maund from Rs4,300 to Rs4,100 in the last couple of sessions reflects ginners’ uneasiness for unspecified reasons,” market sources said.

The New York cotton futures were quoted modestly higher by 0.09 and 0.29 cents per lb at 65.16 and 67.37 cents for both the ruling October and the forward December contracts, respectively.

There was no change in the official spot rates at Rs4,200 per maund.The following notable deals were reported by some of the leading brokers on Tuesday.

SINDH TYPE: 2,400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs4,175 to Rs4,250, 1,200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs4,125 to Rs4,225, 1,400 bales, Sanghar at Rs4,100 to Rs4,225, 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,100 to Rs4,200, 800 bales, Khipro at Rs4,125 to Rs4,175,800 bales, Sultanabad at Rs4,100 to Rs4,200 and 600 bales, Hyderabad.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 800 bales, Bhawalnagar at Rs4,150 to Rs4,250, 1,600 bales, Burewala at Rs4,150 to Rs4,225, 600 bales, Chichawatni and 400 bales Mian Channu at Rs4,150 to Rs4,200, 200 bales, each Khanpur and Gaggon at Rs4,200 and 200 bales, Mungi Bungalow and 200 bales, Haroonabad at Rs4,175 and Rs4,215, respectively.