February 17, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle higher on CBOT; corn tad up

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher in a relatively active session Friday, spurred by overnight gains in soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The local market finally stirred after an uneventful week, analysts said, thanks to CBOT's rise to one-week highs on forecasts of little rain in South America next week.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB35 higher at RMB2,762 a metric tonne, amid active speculative buying in the afternoon, analysts said.

 

Total trading volume more than doubled to 169,780 lots from 78,740 lots Thursday. One lot equals 10 tonnes.

 

"This is very likely to be a technical breach, especially if it can be supported by CBOT's Friday performance," said Li Honglei, an analyst with Nanhua Futures Co.

 

After all, speculators were looking for a quick buck after such a quiet week, Li said.

 

Soymeal futures settled higher alongside soybean futures as market players rolled over to the September contract from the May contract.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soymeal contract settled RMB43 higher at RMB2,400/tonne, after trading between RMB2,361/tonne and RMB2,452/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for soymeal futures also more than doubled to 621,148 lots from 300,198 lots Thursday.

 

Led by the strength in soybean and soymeal, soyoil futures settled higher as well with new long buying.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract rose RMB49 to RMB5,128/tonne, after trading between RMB5,096/tonne and RMB5,160/tonne.

 

Dalian's No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark September 2006 No. 2 soybean contract settled RMB28 higher at RMB2,620/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled slightly higher, with the benchmark September 2006 contract up RMB5 to RMB1,486/tonne, after trading between RMB1,477/tonne and RMB1,493/tonne.

 

"Corn futures didn't gain as much as soybean partly because they have been strong for some time already, while some speculators turned to soybeans in the session, and thus were dragged down in the morning session," Li said.