Thursday: China soy futures setttle up; supported by CBOT, crude oil
China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Thursday, supported by a rise on the Chicago Board of Trade and higher crude oil prices overnight.
The benchmark May 2010 soy contract settled 0.3% higher at RMB3,747 a metric tonne.
Crude oil futures prices settled above US$81 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in a year, propelled 2.8% higher by dollar weakness and tightening U.S. inventories. Soy didn't jump proportionately, however, due to a lack of positive fundamentals.
The benchmark soy contract opened higher, but gradually moved lower and closed at the session low of RMB3,730/tonne.
Buyers aren't well disposed to setting up long positions, given burgeoning government inventories and a new crop on the way, Dalu Futures analyst Hu Kai said, adding the consolidation will continue.
Favorable domestic economic data didn't lend much support to the market, mainly because third-quarter gross domestic product growth was slightly weaker than expected.
China's economy grew 8.9% in the third quarter, accelerating from the second quarter's 7.9% growth rate, but was lower than the median 9.1% forecast of 12 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Trading volume of all soy contracts declined to 248,322 lots from 352,476 lots Wednesday.
Open interest fell by 6,414 lots to 289,946 lots Thursday.
Corn futures settled little changed, while soymeal , palm oil and soyoil futures all settled higher.
Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soy May 2010 3,747 Up 12 248,322
Corn May 2010 1,745 Up 1 71,410
Soymeal May 2010 2,851 Up 8 1,388,290
Palm Oil May 2010 6,154 Up 62 169,500
Soyoil May 2010 7,248 Up 68 743,226
