September 1, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Review on Thursday: Higher on follow-through and funds

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled higher Thursday, bolstered by follow through buying from Wednesday's rally, the firm tonnee in the overnight session and spillover support from wheat, sources said.

 

September corn settled 3 1/2 cents higher to US$2.32, with December ending up 3 1/4 cents at US$2.48. e-CBOT volume in December totaled 39,686 contracts.

 

December corn traded at its highest level since Aug. 11

 

It was a combination of factors, a commission house analyst said. Spillover from Wednesday and the firm tonnee in overnight activity provided early support. After the market slipped on profit taking, light speculative buying helped push the market higher and once December moved above its 20-day moving average, fund buying added to the gains, he said.

 

A floor trader noted solid export demand, which was also supportive.

 

The USDA reported that weekly export sales were a combined 1,681.2 million metric tonnes, above the high end of the range expected by analysts.

 

It was the last trading session of the month and there just wasn't much interest in selling corn, and wheat futures were firm again, a commercial analyst said.

 

December wheat rose 5 3/4 cents to US$4.22 1/4.

 

On open auction technical charts, December finished above its 20-day moving average but below its 40-day moving average.

 

Buyers Thursday included FC Stonnee, which bought 2,000 December and 1,000 December 2007, O'Connor which bought 1,000 December, JP Morgan which bought 500 December, and UBS which bought 500 December.

 

ABN Amro sold 1,000 December, Man Financial sold 800 December, and JP Morgan sold 1,000 December and 700 September.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 3,400 contracts.

 

In spread trading, Tenco bought 1,000 December 2006-December 2007.

 

Oat futures ended moderately higher as technical buying after December traded above its 100-day moving average boosted prices, a floor source said.

 

September oats settled 5 3/4 cents higher at US$1.82 per bushel and December rose 4 3/4 cents to US$1.90 3/4.

 

Ethanol futures settled unchanged in thin trading. September ethanol ended at US$2.19 cents per gallon and October also ended unchanged at 2.20.