August 28, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Outlook on Monday: Seen 1-2 cents higher; following wheat

 

 

Corn futures are expected to begin day tine trading 1-to-2 cents higher Monday, following wheat futures and continuing the tone established in overnight activity, sources said.

 

In overnight e-CBOT trading, September corn finished 2 1/4 cents higher at US$2.27 1/4 per bushel and December rose 1 3/4 cents to US$2.43 1/2 with volume of 4,629 contracts.

 

Corn should garner support from the wheat market this morning, a floor analyst said. Wheat is expected to open firm and corn will benefit from spillover, but with harvest beginning in the next several weeks it could be hard to sustain any longer-term rallies, he added.

 

The market could see some end of the month buying which could give the market a bounce, said Brian Hoops, president of Midwest Marketing Solutions in Yankton, S.D. The strength in wheat will also provide additional strength, he noted.

 

Large non-commercial traders trimmed their long corn futures and options on futures positions by 11,146 contracts and increased their short holdings by 16,103 contracts and are now net long 104,832 contracts as of Aug. 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported Friday.

 

Commercial traders increased their long positions by 9,238 contracts and reduced their short positions by 13,542 contracts and are now net long 14,926 contracts, the CFTC reported.

 

Corn basis bids were mixed Monday. Central Illinois was unchanged at 2 cents over the September future.

 

In other corn news, prices for corn delivered to Asia may rise in the week ahead on spillover support from stronger wheat prices, sources in Asia said.

 

Corn futures on China's Dalian Commodities exchange settled slightly lower with May 2007 down RMB/3 at RMB 1,412/tonne.

 

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