Friday: China soy futures settle down; cautious trade before holiday

 

 

China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Friday, with traders trying to avoid risk in the last trading session before the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB27, or 0.7%, lower at RMB3,780 a metric tonne.

 

The contract opened lower and slipped further during the session in very light volume, as traders vacated positions to avoid the possibility of getting wrongfooted if Chicago Board of Trade contracts move significantly while Chinese markets are closed.

 

The Chinese markets will reopen Feb. 22.

 

Expected record-high harvest in South America will limit any rebound in CBOT soy, which ended slightly higher overnight on the back of firm cash prices and technical buying, Galaxy Futures said in a note.

 

Cash soy prices were mostly lower in China this week, as processors have stopped production, while traders cut their bid prices for the crop amid limited interest.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts declined to 140,184 lots from 254,948 lots Thursday.

 

Open interest fell 4,628 lots to 337,108 lots Friday.

 

Corn futures settled unchanged, while soyoil, palm oil and soymeal futures settled lower.

 

Following are Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

 

Contract       Settlement       Price        Change        Volume

Soy               Sep 2010       3,780        Dn   27        140,184

Corn              Sep 2010       1,857        Unch             20,438

Soymeal        Sep 2010       2,777        Dn    4         302,058

Palm Oil         Sep 2010       6,800        Dn   32        166,582

Soyoil            Sep 2010       7,400        Dn   40        219,332