September 25, 2007

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Settles lower on profit-taking

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled with light losses Monday in quiet trade as profit- taking kept prices on the defensive after a move to higher levels at the opening fizzled, analysts said.

 

December settled 3 cents lower at US$3.73 1/2 per bushel and March fell 3 cents to US$3.89.

 

Corn experienced some profit-taking after the recent big run-up in prices, said Brian Hoops, president of Midwest Market Solutions in Yanktonne, S.D.

 

In addition, there was an increase in hedge selling pressure after an active harvest weekend as producers locked in higher prices on the rally with better-than-expected yields also noted, Hoops said.

 

"Producers are selling it right off the combine at a very good price," he said.

 

Higher wheat futures and near-term export news lent some support to prices in early trade as did underlying commercial support, an analyst said. Before the opening, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a sale of 200,000 metric tonnes of U.S. corn to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2007-08 marketing year.

 

"It was largely a technical trade Monday," a commission house analyst said. December corn could not remain above its 200-day moving average and that encouraged light technical and fund selling, the analyst said.

 

Overall commodity fund selling was estimated at 5,000 contracts.

 

On daily technical charts, electronically traded December corn settled below its 200-day moving average but above its other major moving averages.

 

In open auction trading, RJ O'Brien bought 600 December and Tenco sold 1,000 March.

 

In options trading, MF Global sold 3,000 December US$4.00 calls and RJ O'Brien sold 2,000 December US$3.50 calls.

 

Oat futures ended near unchanged levels influenced by the gains in wheat and the weakness in corn, a trader said. Light technical buying acted as support with funds on both sides of the market, the trader said.

 

December oats settled 1/2 cent higher at US$2.83 3/4 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures settled lower in quiet activity. October ethanol settled 2.5 cents lower at US$1.55 per gallon and November also ended 2.5 cents lower at US$1.57.

 

On Monday afternoon, the USDA is scheduled to release the weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. EDT.