KARACHI, Aug 23: Trading on the cotton market on Saturday was a bit slow as spinners and mills kept to the sidelines after ginners raised prices by another Rs100 per maund.

Leading brokers failed to give any specific reasons behind the snap rebound.

Some ginners however claimed that the entry of private sector exporters in the market seemed to have alarmed most of the spinners.

“The recent sharp fall in the value of the rupee has made export of lint more attractive,” said a leading cotton consultant Naseem Usman, adding “exporters are not inclined to miss this opportunity and are said to have finalised a number of forward deals around 70 cents per lb”.

The persistent decline in the New York cotton futures, which were ruling well below the benchmark of 70 cents per lb, was an aiding positive factor making export more competitive, he added.

The private sector exporters up to Aug 15 purchased 32,216 bales against their forward sales to various countries including India and had physically shipped 21,748 bales.

Meanwhile, crop position in the Sindh cotton belt is said to be fairly satisfactory and indications are the production target is expected to be achieved.

But the situation in the Punjab cotton belt is said to be alarming owing to post-rain massive pest attack, notably in some of the major growing areas including the southern Punjab cotton belt, market sources said.

Growers are engaged in the third spraying operation and its result will be known possibly by the next week, they added.

New York cotton futures on Friday were quoted lower by 0.11 and 0.21 cents per lb at 67.42 and 69.63 cents for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements respectively.

The following notable deals were finalised on Saturday evening.

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs4,150 to Rs4,200, 400 bales, Sinjoro 600 bales, Jhole at Rs4,200, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs4,150 to Rs4,175, 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs4,150 to Rs4,200.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 800 bales, Burewala at Rs4,100 to Rs4,200.