August 16, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Tuesday: Little changed as market consolidates

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled little changed Tuesday as the market consolidated near Monday's settlement prices in modest activity.

 

September ended unchanged at US$2.22 cents per bushel and December gained 1/4 cent to US$2.38 1/2. E-CBOT day session volume in December was 22,009 contracts.

 

Early in the session the market tried to move below the contract lows set in Monday's trade on follow-through selling from Monday and technical weakness, said Shawn McCambridge, senior grain analyst at Prudential Financial. However, the market didn't break and it drifted back toward unchanged levels on oversold ideas, he added.

 

Growing conditions remain favorable for the crop, and right now there is no feature to change the overall tonnee of the market, he added.

 

Corn consolidated after the recent weakness, a commission house broker said. There was light fund selling early in the session, but the market was supported by the modest gains in wheat and light evening up after the declines of the past several days, he said.

 

December corn has fallen more than 17 cents from last Thursday's settlement price.

 

On technical charts, December traded within the range established in Monday's session, unable to fill the downside gap created between Friday's low and Monday's trade.

 

Buyers Tuesday included Rand Financial, which bought 2,500 December; UBS, which bought 1,000 December; JP Morgan, which bought 500 December; and Tenco, which bought 600 December and 400 March.

 

Man Financial sold 2,500 September, ABN Amro sold 600 December, O'Connor sold 500 December and Fimat sold 500 December.

 

Overall commodity fund selling was estimated at 2,500 contracts.

 

Oat futures settled mixed as light commercial buying helped provide support in an otherwise quiet session, floor sources said.

 

September oats ended up 1/2 cent higher at US$1.75 per bushel while December finished unchanged at US$1.84 1/4.

 

Ethanol futures finished mostly higher in light trading. September ethanol rose 1 and 4/10th cents to US$2.534 per gallon and October rose 1 and 3/10th cents to US$2.505.