Stock Market-In High Mood

Keep Them Low Nishtar THE cotton market has had its first big Jolt since it commenced its steep climb some four months ago. Excepting exportable Bengal Deshi, cotton prices have moved down by Rs 250 to Rs 500 a candy within less than a week, and it is most popular varieties like Digvi- jay and C02 which have suffered the worst. Several factors have contributed to last week's sharp break in prices, and the tightening of the credit screw by the Reserve Bank through enhanced margin (40 per cent instead of 25 per cent) on advances to mills against cloth stocks is perhaps the least important of them all. Credit had been gradually getting scarce and costly; mills and the trade could not have possibly ignored this factor altogether, especially when prices had reached fantastic levels.