April 26, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Tuesday: CBOT corn slips on technical, fund sales

 

 

Corn futures ended modestly lower Tuesday on technical and fund selling but recovered from earlier losses on a late rebound in soybean values, a commission house analyst said.

 

May corn slipped 1 3/4 cents to US$2.31 per bushel, July fell 2 cents to US$2.42 1/4, and December lost 1 1/4 cents to US$2.65 3/4.

 

Corn traded on both sides of Monday's settlement prices in choppy activity as the lack of a feature helped keep futures in a modest range, a floor analyst said.

 

However, fund and technical selling emerged and helped push July corn below its 20-day and 50-day moving averages and into an upside price gap created in late March between US$2.45 and US$2.39 on daily charts, a floor analyst said.

 

July traded down to its lowest level since March 15.

 

A late rally in soybean futures based on firming soy oil values helped corn futures recover from session lows, the analyst added.

 

Monday afternoon's corn progress report, which noted that 25% of the US corn crop had been planted as of April 23, was slightly above the high end of market expectations but had little impact, a floor trader said.

 

It was a choppy day, the outside markets had little influence with higher metals prices offset by crude oil futures, which were weaker for much of the session, the trader added.

 

After mostly dry weather Wednesday, a chance for rain develops Wednesday night in the western U.S. Midwest, DTN Meteorlogix Weather said. Showers and possible rain return to the region on Friday into Saturday with amounts .25-1.00 inch, DTN Meteorlogix Weather said. In its 6-10 day outlook, temperatures are expected to average near to below normal with precipitation near to below normal, DTN Meteorlogix Weather added.

 

In the eastern U.S. Midwest, mainly dry conditions are forecast from Wednesday through Friday night with a chance of rain or showers developing Friday night and continuing into the weekend, DTN Meteorlogix Weather said.

 

In its 6-10 day outlook, DTN Meteorlogix Weather is expecting temperatures near to below normal with rainfall near to below normal north and near to above normal south.

 

Buyers Tuesday included Goldenberg-Hehmeyer, which bought 1,000 July, Calyon Financial bought 1,000 July, JP Morgan bought 1,000 December, the Refco division of Man Financial bought 500 July, DT Trading bought 500 July and ADM bought 400 July.

 

Sellers Tuesday included ABN Amro, which sold 1,000 July, Calyon Financial sold 1,000 July, Goldenberg-Hehmeyer sold 1,000 July, Man Financial sold 1,000 December, JP Morgan sold 1,000 July, Rand Financial sold 1,000 July, the Refco division of Man Financial sold 700 July and 1,500 December and Rosenthal sold 700 July.

 

Commodity fund selling was estimated at 3,700 contracts.

 

Oat futures settled mostly higher as light fund based technical buying supported prices after July moved through the 1.83 level on daily technical charts a commission house analyst said. A higher than expected Canadian oat acreage estimate had little impact, sources said.

 

The May contract rose 1 1/4 cents to US$1.77 per bushel and the July contract gained 1 3/4 cents to US$1.84.

 

Ethanol futures finished unchanged to lower in thin trade. May ethanol settled 3 cents lower to US$2.64 per gallon, and June didn't trade and settled unchanged at US$2.67.