June 15, 2006

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle mixed; corn higher

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Thursday, amid gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures during electronic trade.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract rose RMB2 to settle at RMB2,618 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,611/tonne and RMB2,624/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts further shrank to 8,304 lots from 27,122 lots Wednesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

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

 

The benchmark September contract settled RMB7 higher at RMB2,517/tonne.

 

Soybean futures opened lower on overnight CBOT losses, but light buying, tracking gains on e-CBOT Thursday, pushed some contracts into positive territory, said Lin Hui, an analyst with China International Futures Co.

 

"Speculators are still away from the market, as soybean's consolidation is likely to continue, barring any market-moving news about weather conditions," she said.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly higher on light buying, along with soybean futures.

 

The benchmark November 2006 contract settled RMB7 higher at RMB2,340/tonne, after trading between RMB2,328/tonne and RMB2,350/tonne.

 

Total trading volume fell to 301,662 lots from 566,818 lots Wednesday.

 

Soyoil futures settled mostly lower. The benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract settled unchanged at RMB5,134/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled higher on short-covering, analysts said.

 

The benchmark March 2007 contract rose RMB3 to settle at RMB1,475/tonne, after trading between RMB1,462/tonne and RMB1,485/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn contracts fell to 553,340 lots from 994,534 lots Wednesday.