March 2, 2009
Monday: China soy futures up marginally; likely to stay in range
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled marginally higher Monday as bargain hunting and short covering kicked in after Friday's sharp fall.
The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract edged up 0.1% to settle at RMB3,397 a metric tonne.
Analysts said soybean prices will likely consolidate in the coming sessions, with some downward pressure due mainly to market participants' lingering concerns over weakening demand in the domestic market and sluggish macroeconomic conditions.
"The government's planned purchases of 6 million tonnes of soybean offset some of the (bad macroeconomic news), but given the weakening demand in domestic market, soybean could still face some downward pressure in the near term," said Gao Yanrong, an analyst with Dalu Futures.
Gao put nearby support at RMB3,300/tonne and tipped nearby resistance at RMB3,600/tonne on chart-based cues.
Soymeal rose on some short-covering following Friday's sharp tumble in prices, tracking gains in CBOT soymeal futures Friday, analysts said.
Trading volume of all soybean contracts declined to 411,920 lots from 638,596 lots Friday.
Open interest decreased 346 lots to 343,574 lots Monday.
Corn settled unchanged, while soyoil, and palm oil settled higher, tracking the gains of soybeans and soymeal on the exchange.
Monday'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
Soybean Sep 2009 3,397 Up 5 393,000
Corn Sep 2009 1,669 Unch 67,000
Soymeal Sep 2009 2,442 Up 20 1,109,600
Palm Oil May 2009 5,136 Up 32 49,510
Soyoil Sep 2009 5,964 Up 26 299,550
