January 27, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Thursday: Late gains on thin buying,firm soy,wheat

 

 

Corn futures traded at the Chicago Board of Trade ended with fractional gains Thursday, extending their rally for the fourth straight day as light short covering late in the session along with firm soybean and wheat futures provided support, sources said.

 

March corn settled 1/2 cent higher to US$2.17 per bushel, May corn gained 3/4 cent to US$2.26 3/4, and July corn also ended up 3/4 cent at US$2.35 3/4.

 

Commercial selling helped keep a lid on the market for much of the session, a floor analyst said. Light fund buying was effectively offset by the commercials and corn was lower for much of the session, he added.

 

Good cash movement by producers was also helping limit gains, he noted.

 

Near the close, corn turned positive as stronger soybean and wheat values helped provide support, a commission house broker said.

 

The market's inability to fill an upward gap beneath current price levels was also termed supportive by a floor trader.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 6,300 contracts, well below Wednesday's level.

 

The market consolidated for much of the session, a floor trader said. The funds were not in the market as strong as earlier in the week, and there was not much news beyond the exports, he added.

 

Thursday morning's news of stronger-than-expected weekly corn export sales from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was positive, a trader said, but the market usually fades big export numbers, he noted.

 

The USDA reported that weekly corn export sales totaled 2.157 million metric tonnes, well above the 800,000-1.4 million tonnes expected by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

 

Buyers on Thursday included ADM, which bought 500 March. Calyon Financial bought 500 March, JP Morgan bought 500 March, Citigroup bought 1,000 July, Fimat bought 500 March and 200 July, Man Financial 1,000 March, O'Connor bought 500 December, the Refco division of Man Financial bought 1,700 March and 1,500 July, and Tenco bought 600 March.

 

Sellers Thursday included ADM, which sold 500 March. FC Stonnee sold 500 March and 300 July, Calyon Financial sold 300 March, Goldenberg-Hehmeyer sold 800 March, Man Financial sold 500 March and 300 July, Rand sold 500 March, and Tenco sold 1,200 March.

 

Oat futures ended mostly lower with March ending with moderate losses. March oats fell 6 1/2 cents to US$1.89 1/4 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures settled mixed. The April contract did not trade and slipped 1/2 cent to US$2.39 1/2 per gallon.