KARACHI: The cotton market on Thursday witnessed increased trading which was induced by incentives given in the mini-budget for revival of industrial activity and confidence building measures for businesses.
The lethargic spell of the past few weeks finally seems to be lifting. It took almost six months for the Teheerk-e-Insaf government to spell out policy directions.
Consequently, there was higher demand for cotton as the budget was taken positively and could work as a basis for some long-term business and industrial activity in the country. According to brokers, the period of wait and see has come to an end and the business community will start taking long-term decisions.
Cotton prices generally remained firm but increased flow of buying orders clearly indicated that the textile industry would now start performing better owing to measures and concessions given in the mini-budget.
The world leading cotton markets gave mixed trend with New York cotton losing some of the gains recorded a day earlier while Chinese and Indian cotton gave erratic behavior. The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were firm at overnight level at Rs8,700 per maund.
The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 400 bales, station Mirpur Mathelo, at Rs8,800; 2,000 bales, Saleh Pat, at Rs8,700; 4,400 bales, Khairpur, at Rs8,300-8,400; 1,000 bales, Khanpur, at Rs8,900; 200 bales, Mianwali, at Rs8,250; 404 bales, Marot, at Rs8,200; 1,000 bales, for Abbas, at Rs7,900-8,100; 600 bales, Yazman, at Rs7,900; 400 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs7,850; and 400 bales, Chishtian, at Rs7,850.
Source: The Dawn, Pakistan Friday, 25 January 2019