Slight increase was seen in volume of business on the cotton market on Friday ahead of holiday, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 8,600, they added. In the ready session, approximately, 4000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 8000-8800, they said. Prices of seed cotton in Sindh were at Rs 3000-3500, in Punjab seed cotton prices at Rs 3000-3600 and in Balochistan prices were at Rs 3200-3500, they said.
Market sources said that mills and spinners have already imported cotton to meet their demand.
Cotton analyst Naseem Usman, commenting on dollar's surge versus the rupee said that cotton prices likely to go up slightly in the time to come.
In the international market, the cotton prices were higher, they said.
Adds Reuters: ICE cotton futures rose more than 2 percent to a three-month high on Thursday, boosted by technical buying and concerns of extreme weather conditions in the US Midwest.
The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures US, May, settled up 1.68 cents, or 2.23 percent, at 77.18 cents per lb.
Total futures market volume rose by 19,197 to 43,247 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 805 to 223,461 contracts in the previous session.
The following deals reported: 400 bales of cotton from Rajanpur at Rs 8850, 1200 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 8800, 1513 bales from Yazman Mandi at Rs 8000/8450, 600 bales from Vehari at Rs 8525 and 800 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 8000/8025, they said.
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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pakistan Rupees
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FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/16"
MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
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Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Spot Rate Difference
For Price Ex-Karachi Ex. KHI. As Ex-Karachi
on 21-03-2019
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37.324 kg 8,600 160 8,760 8,760 Nil
Equivalent
40 kgs 9,217 171 9,388 9,388 Nil
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