June 17, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Friday: Up; market consolidates before weekend

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade finished higher Friday, shrugging off wetter midday weather forecasts to end in positive territory as the market consolidated after recent weakness, floor sources said.

 

July corn settled 2 1/2 cents higher at US$2.35 1/2 per bushel and December rose 2 3/4 cents to US$2.61 1/4.

 

Despite the weather forecasts, nobody wanted to go home short. If the rain doesn't materialize this weekend, the market could rally on Monday, a commission house analyst said.

 

Futures traded higher throughout the session, following firm overnight values and on position squaring after recent weakness, a floor source said.

 

The midday forecasts predicted additional rain in the short-term forecast in the western Midwest and the chance for more rain in the near-term forecast for the Midwest next week, said Bill Nelson, associate vice-president at AG Edwards & Sons in St. Louis.

 

There were not enough new reasons to go lower Friday, a commission house analyst said. The market has already broke on the rain; now it is waiting to see if it rains this weekend, he added.

 

On technical charts, July corn traded an inside day, with a lower high and a higher low than Thursday's session and finished below most major moving averages.

 

Buyers Friday included JP Morgan, which bought 1,700 July. Calyon bought 1,500 December, Man Financial bought 1,200 December, Fortis bought 2,000 July, and RJ O'Brien bought 600 July.

 

Sellers Friday included Citigroup, which sold 2,500 September and 1,600 July. UBS sold 1,000 September, the USA Trading division of Man Financial sold 1,200 July, O'Connor sold 1,000 December, JP Morgan sold 800 December and Fimat sold 700 July and 500 December.

 

Commodity fund selling was estimated at 500 contracts.

 

In options trading, JP Morgan sold 8,000 December US$2.30 puts.

 

Oat futures ended modestly higher as early fund buying helped support prices despite commercial hedging activity, a floor trader said.

 

July oats ended up 2 1/4 cents at US$1.96 1/2 and December, after making a new life-of-contract high at US$1.98, finished up 1 cent at US$1.95 1/2.

 

Ethanol futures finished higher in thin trading. The July contract settled 13 1/2 cents higher to US$3.94 per gallon and the August contract gained 1/2 cent to US$3.30.

 

Friday afternoon the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled to release the commitment of trader's data as of June 13.

 

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release the weekly export inspections at 10:00 a.m. CDT and the weekly crop progress report at 3:00 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT).