September 15, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Outlook on Friday: Steady-mixed start seen

 

 

CBOT corn futures are expected to begin day session trading steady-to-mixed Friday, as the lack of fresh inputs will have corn looking to other markets for direction, sources said.

 

In overnight e-CBOT trading, December corn slipped 1/4 cent to US$2.37 and March fell 1/2 cent to US$2.50 3/4. e-CBOT volume overnight in December was 3,810 contracts.

 

Corn will look to other markets for direction, a commission house analyst said. Next week's weather forecast predicts above normal rainfall and below normal temperatures in the northern U.S. Midwest which could delay any harvesting. However, this is more important to soybeans and not corn, so any impact could be slight, he said.

 

DTN Meteorologix Weather forecasts cold weather early next week which could lead to some frost in the northwest belt but is not to cause significant damage to the crops, DTN Meteorologix Weather said.

 

The weather outlook could provide some support to corn through short covering ahead of the weekend, but market direction could depend more on what happens in soybeans or wheat, a floor source said.

 

Corn could also be influenced by outside markets as recent weakness in energy and metals markets has also influenced price direction and could do so again today, the source added.

 

On technical charts, chart damage has occurred this week to suggest a retest of the recent contract low in CBOT December corn of US$2.33 1/2, a technical analyst said. First resistance for December corn is seen at US$2.40 and then at US$2.42. First support is pegged at US$2.36 3/4 and then at US$2.35.

 

In other corn news, South Korea is tendering for 60,000 metric tonnes of optional-origin corn, sources said.

 

Ukraine sees grain exports in the 2006-07 marketing year at 12 million metric tonnes, with wheat exports not exceeding 2 million tonnes, the agriculture ministry's press office said Friday.

 

Corn futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly lower with the May contract up RMB/1 at RMB1,414/tonne.

 

Friday afternoon, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled to release the latest commitment of traders report after the close.