August 29, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Ends fractionally lower in light trade

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled fractionally lower Monday, stuck between higher wheat values and lower soybean prices, sources said.

 

September corn slipped 1/2 cent to US$2.24 1/2 cents per bushel and December settled down 3/4 cent at US$2.41. e-CBOT day session volume in December was 18,873 contracts.

 

Corn was caught between higher wheat values and lower soybean prices, a commercial connected trader said. Unless something out of the ordinary happens between now and the beginning of harvest, it will be hard for corn to move much one way or the other, he noted.

 

Concerns over dry weather in Australia and other wheat producing regions helped support wheat futures with favorable U.S. weather weighing on soybeans, sources said.

 

December wheat rose 6 cents to US$4.04 1/4 and November soybeans fell 5 cents to US$5.52.

 

There was little out right trade today and options trade was non-existent, the commercial trader added.

 

The market is beginning to wait on the harvest, a commission house broker said.

 

Corn had little reaction to weekly export inspections data. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 42.390 million bushels of corn were inspected for export, slightly below the 43-50 million bushels expected.

 

On open auction technical charts, December corn traded an inside day, within the high and low range established in Friday's session.

 

Buyers Monday included ABN Amro, which bought 1,000 December, Fimat which bought 300 December, and JP Morgan which bought 300 December.

 

JP Morgan sold 500 December, ABN Amro sold 500 December, O'Connor sold 500 December and FC Stonnee sold 500 December.

 

Overall commodity fund activity was even on the day.

 

In options trading, JP Morgan sold 1,000 December US$2.50 puts.

 

Oat futures finished modestly higher in quiet trading as light commission house activity on both sides of the market was the only feature, a commission house analyst said. The market is waiting on harvest pressure from Saskatchewan, he added.

 

September oats gained 1/4 cent to US$1.75 3/4 per bushel and December rose 3/4 cent to US$1.85 1/2.

 

Ethanol futures finished lower in thin activity. September ethanol settled .002 cents lower to US$2.283 cents per gallon and October slipped 3 cents to 2.245.

 

Monday afternoon, the USDA is scheduled to the weekly crop progress report at 3:00 p.m. CDT. Traders and analysts expect conditions to come in unchanged from last week's 58% good-to-excellent rating.