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Trading gets slow on cotton market                KARACHI, March 30: Physical activity on the cotton market on Monday was relatively slow as leading spinners apparently took a technical breather after weekend's heavy covering purchases. A leading spinner group was, however, was in the market and tried to lift some big lots of fine lint against its forward sales to higher counts of cotton yarn, brokers said. Most of the spinners and mills having comfortable stock positions stayed away as ginners were not inclined to sell premium lots both from the upper Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belt below Rs3,000 per maund, they said. Some of the spinners offered to buy low-mic lint from the central Sindh cotton belt on an average price of Rs2,700 per maund but ginners held on their positions apparently awaiting final crop figures, market sources said. In the backdrop of last Saturday's hectic ready offtake including some big-lot business, spinners and mills stayed on the sidelines most of the time as there were no matching selling offers at their bid rates, they added. They said ready activity may remain slow in the coming weeks also as both the ginners and spinners will keep a status quo until the final crop figures were released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), possibly after April 15. Meanwhile, reports originating from the Aptma sources indicate that the opening of the hedge trading in new crop may be delayed as a group of ginners opposed it in its recent Multan meeting. Previously both the ginners and spinners were united on the issue and have jointly approached the government for the restoration of forward trading. The division among the major exponents of the hedge trading could lead to rethinking on the long-standing demand of the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) in the official quarters. Some leading brokers fear the National Commodity Exchange, which is expected to start hedge trading in some of the commodities including bullion may also take cotton in its fold. Official spot rates remained pegged at the last levels in the absence of indicators from the ready section. Ready offtake was modest as only a big-lot of 8,000 bales from the upper Sindh ginneries changed hands between Rs2,950 and Rs3,000 per maund excluding sales tax. The following are Monday's new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/32" micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL. Rate for Exgin price Ex-gin price including Sales Tax Upcountry Expenses Spot rate ex-Karachi including Sales Tax @ 15% 37.32 kgs 2,950 3,392.50 50 3,442.50 Equivalent 40 kgs 3,162 3,636.30 50 3,686.30. The DAWN