February 3, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Thursday: Higher; near session highs on wheat,funds

 

 

Corn futures traded at the Chicago Board of Trade settled at higher levels Thursday, with spot month March at its highest settlement price since Oct. 3, as light fund buying late in the session and spillover strength from stronger wheat futures supported prices, sources said.

 

March corn gained 4 cents to US$2.20 1/2 per bushel, May rose 3 3/4 cents to US$2.30 1/4, and July finished 3 1/4 cents higher at US$2.39 1/4.

 

"Wheat was the catalyst for strength in corn," a floor analyst said. The gains in wheat helped kick off modest money flows into the pit, with light fund buying adding to the steady tonnee, he added.

 

Wheat futures finished with strong gains, led by gains in hard red wheat futures in Kansas City and news that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric reported a La Nina has returned to the waters of east-central equatorial Pacific.

 

March CBOT wheat settled 8 cents higher at US$3.47 1/4.

 

Better than expected weekly export sales from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had little market impact, sources said. Sales totaled 1.440 million metric tonnes for the week ended Jan 26 and were above analysts expectations. This was the third consecutive week that sales topped 1 million metric tonnes.

 

The near term weather in Argentina had little effect on prices Thursday. Scattered showers and thundershowers are expected over the next several days in Argentina, DTN Meteorlogix weather said. In the 6-to-10 day outlook, above normal temperatures and drier weather are forecast, Meteorlogix weather said.

 

Buyers on Thursday included JP Morgan, which bought 1,000 March and 200 December, Citigroup bought 600 March, Fimat bought 500 March, Man Financial bought 1,000 March, O'Connor bought 400 March, Tenco bought 400 March, and Deutsche Bank bought 500 December.

 

Sellers Thursday included Cargill, which sold 700 July and 200 March, FC Stonnee sold 200 March, and R.J. O'Brien sold 300 March.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 6,600 contracts.

 

In options trading, JP Morgan bought 7,000 December US$2.30 puts.

 

Oat futures finished higher as spillover support from stronger wheat futures underpinned prices, a pit trader said. March oats gained 4 cents to US$1.96 per bushel

 

Ethanol futures settled mostly unchanged with the most-active March contract up 5 cents at US$2.52 per gallon.