Cotton was up Rs 300-400 a candy of 356 kg on Friday on lower arrival and export demand. The Sankar-6 variety increased by Rs 400 to Rs 34,800-35,000 a candy. Mills were demanding cotton at Rs 34,600-34,700 a candy. Kapas or raw cotton moved up by Rs 10 to Rs 840-860 for 20 kg here and quoted at Rs 860-870 for delivery at Kadi.
Kapas ' April contract declined by Rs 7.50 to Rs 854 for 20 kg, with an open interest of 8,561 lots.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange, the April contract gained Rs 50 to Rs 17,750 a bale of 170 kg and May Rs 110 to Rs 18,180.
While about 45,000-47,000 bales arrived in Gujarat, 1.1 lakh bales arrived in the rest of the country.
Benchmark May cotton on ICE Futures US dropped by 0.77 cents to 89.67 cents a pound, trading from 89.46 to 91.49 cents, on technically inspired investor sales.
A Rajkot-based broker said, “Cotton was traded higher today as arrival has declined in past two weeks. Moreover, North India and Gujarat mills' demand supported the price. However overall trend is not so good and market may face correction in coming days.”