Activity was thin on the cotton market on Thursday as ginners raised asking price owing the tight supplies due to monsoon rains, dealers said. The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rate for the second day in a row, was raised by Rs 100 to Rs 6200, they said. In the ready business, only 1600 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 6000-6400, they said.

Phutti prices in Sindh were at Rs 2650-2700 and in Punjab, the rates were at Rs 2800-2900, they added. Some market observers said that business activity was slow as ginners raised asking price due to short supply position. The present scenario is against expectations as the market players were hoping that the lapse of Regulatory Duty (RD) will help in increasing the business activity but monsoon rains changed the scenario, they observed. They said that due to said factor, prices may go up further in the coming days, in the meantime, the rains have stopped in Sindh and Punjab and this is good for the crop.

On Wednesday the NY cotton futures finished easier on profit-taking after climbing previously to a three-week top with the market still facing the prospect of tight deliverable supplies, brokers said. The December cotton contract shed 0.39 cent to close at 76.31 cents per lb, dealing from 76.11 to 77.29 cents. On Tuesday, the contract ended at 76.70 cents in the highest close for the second position contract since July 8, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The spot October cotton contract fell 0.88 cent to finish at 80.57 cents. October has a 4.26 cents premium over key December, down from the previous session's premium of 4.75 cents. Volume traded in the December contract stood at 8,724 lots at 2:26 pm EDT (1826 GMT).

The following deals were reported: 200 bales of cotton from Sakrand Arif wala sold at Rs 6000, 200 bales from Mir Pur Khas at Rs 6000, 200 bales from Shahdad Pur at Rs 6000, 200 bales from Bahawal Nagar at Rs 6300, 200 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 6400, 200 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 6400, 200 bales from Burewala at Rs 6400 and 200 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 6400.