The cotton market on Monday began monotonous as buyers and sellers stayed away. Due to slackness in cotton demand, phutti (seed cotton) prices also remained under pressure and were quoted between Rs2,800-3,000 per 40kg for Sindh quality and Rs2,800-3,050 per 40kg for Punjab variety.

Ginner were holding onto stocks from earlier on since cotton picking activity came to a complete halt over the weekend to mark Ashura. According to a leading cotton broker, it will be a couple of days before trading normalises.

Officially no transactions were reported to have changed hands but late in the evening some deals were reported to have transpired directly between sellers and some needy spinners.

There are strong indications that prices would again come under pressure as the crop is almost ready in all cotton producing districts of Punjab.

The official spot rates of Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) for cotton remained unchanged.

International factors also heavily weighed against the sentiment as almost all leading cotton markets closed easy.Though there was no reason for slackness in the world market, forecast of higher cotton production this season is a trigger.

Moreover, long closure of Chinese cotton market ow¬¬ing to independence celebration also impacted global trading.