July 7, 2007

 

CBOT Corn Review on Friday: Ends up on weather, position squaring

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures finished moderately higher Friday and near session highs, supported by near-term weather forecasts that expect hot and dry weather in parts of the western U.S. Midwest, analysts said.

 

July corn rallied 10 1/2 cents to US$3.34 1/2 per bushel, Sep gained 9 cents to US$3.41 1/2, and Dec gained 9 1/2 cents to US$3.52.

 

The gains Friday were related to the weather, said Bill Nelson, associate vice president at AG Edwards & Sons. "The weather maps are a little bit drier for next week and that is bullish," Nelson said.

 

The market was also supported by position evening after the recent steep losses as well as light speculative buying, a trader said.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 4,000 contracts.

 

Strong weekly export sales also added to the gains with sales "showing good demand exists at these price levels," a commission house analyst said.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly corn export sales were 1.954 million metric tonnes with 886,000 tonnes of the amount for delivery in the 2007-08 crop year.

 

On daily technical charts, December traded above US$3.50 per bushel which psychologically was important and added to the market's late tonnee, the floor trader said.

 

Price direction Monday depends on the overnight forecasts as there is a lot of weather ahead for the corn crop, the floor trader added.

 

On daily technical charts electronically traded December remained below its major moving averages but closed at its highest level in over a week.

 

In open auction trading, Tenco bought 1,000 December and Man Financial sold 800 December.

 

In options trading, FC Stonnee bought 4,000 September US$3.60 puts and sold 4,000 September US$3.80 puts. Iowa Grain sold 2,000 December US$4.00 calls.

 

Oat futures ended on either side of unchanged in thin trade with the lack of participation limiting volatility, an analyst said. Some traders were absent extending their holiday and there wasn't much interest from the funds on either side of the market, the analyst added.

 

July oats fell 2 1/4 cents to US$2.84 per bushel and December rose 2 cents to US$2.71.

 

Ethanol futures settled modestly higher in light activity. August ethanol gained 2.8 cents to US$1.963 per gallon and September rose .007 cent to US$1.905.

 

Friday afternoon, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled to release the commitment of traders report for the period ending July 3.

 

Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release the weekly export inspections report at 11:00 a.m. EDT and the weekly crop progress report at 4:00 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).