Bearish sentiment was again witnessed on the cotton market on Tuesday as leading participants were not interested in the purchasing due to uncertainties on both the economic and political fronts, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 3250, they said. The phutti prices in both the Punjab and Sindh were at Rs 1550-1650, they added.
According to the market source, no improvement was seen in the business activity due to political instability in the country. Peace, political and economic stability are must to revive the normal business activity in the country, they said. According to the phutti arrivals figure released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) report for the fortnight ended February 28, a total of 11.22 million bales arrived at the ginneries.
On Monday, the NY cotton futures finished down and at a 3-1/2-month low as a steep sell-off in stocks and crude oil stoked fresh fears of a crippling global recession, brokers said. The key May cotton contract fell 1.77 cents to finish at 41.49 cents per lb, trading from 41.11 to 43.20 cents.
It was the lowest close for cotton on a second-position basis since mid-November 2008. Volume traded in the May contract was at 9,201 lots at 2:44 pm EST (1944 GMT). The following deals were reported : 1500 bales of cotton from Mirpur Khas sold at Rs 3050 and 400 bales from Rajan pur at Rs 3250, dealers said.