November 2, 2005

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle mixed; soymeal down; corn up

 

 

Soybean futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Wednesday, amid a lack of follow-through buying following Tuesday's gains.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract settled flat at RMB2,769 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,750 and RMB2,786/tonne.

 

Analysts said technical buying momentum has run out and possible government buying of newly harvested soybeans hasn't been confirmed. These two factors had triggered active speculative buying in the local market Tuesday.

 

In addition, overnight gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures weren't impressive because CBOT soybeans remained in their recent ranges, they said.

 

Technically, January CBOT soybeans are expected to continue to consolidate between $5.50-$6.00 a bushel in the near term, said an analyst with Beite Futures.

 

"The local market is also likely to stay rangebound without new trading leads," he added.

 

Total trading volume in soybeans fell to 288,570 lots from 357,390 lots Tuesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Only two of six No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with imported genetically modified crops but are seldom traded, were traded.

 

The May 2006 No. 2 contract lost RMB6 to settle at RMB2,733/tonne on a single trade of four lots.

 

Dalian soymeal futures settled mostly lower, scaling back some of Tuesday's gains on long liquidation.

 

The benchmark May 2006 contract gave up RMB13 to settle RMB2,398/tonne, after trading between RMB2,378 and RMB2,422/tonne.

 

Corn futures on the Dalian exchange settled higher, mostly on light speculative buying.

 

The benchmark May 2006 contract gained RMB6 to settle at RMB1,273/tonne, after trading between RMB1,268 and RMB1,279/tonne.

 

China's futures trading is off-limits to foreign investors.