November 15, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Modestly up on technical, fund buying

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday settled modestly higher but off levels reached earlier in the session as technical buying, thought to be fund-related, pushed December to its highest level in several weeks.

 

December corn rose 1 1/4 cents to US$1.96 3/4 per bushel, after trading as high as US$1.99 1/2, its highest level since Oct. 25. March corn gained 1 cent to US$2.10 3/4, and May corn rose 1 1/4 cents to US$2.18 1/2.

 

The market tried to rally on technically driven fund buying, but when December could not go above US$2.00, the buying interest dried up and light selling trimmed the gains, a commission house broker said.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 7,000 contracts.

 

"Corn began the day with some follow-through buying from last week," said Shawn McCambridge, senior grain analyst with Prudential Financial. There was some technical buying, but there was not a lot of fundamental news out there beside regional basis levels strengthening, which is normal after the harvest, he said.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that corn inspected for export came in at a higher-than-expected 39.095 million bushels, providing light support as the market begins to focus in on demand.

 

In Thursday's U.S. Department of Agriculture reports, the USDA estimated U.S. corn exports at 2 billion bushels, unchanged from the previous report.

 

On technical charts, both December and March finished above their 10-day moving average but below the 20-day.

 

This afternoon, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will release the latest Commitment of Traders report. The report was delayed a day due to the holiday.

 

In addition, USDA is scheduled to release the weekly crop-progress report Monday afternoon at 1500 CST (2100 GMT). Traders and analysts expect that 95% of the U.S. corn crop has been harvested through Sunday.

 

Buyers on Monday included Cargill buying 300 December, ABN Amro buying 1,200 March, Fimat buying 1,000 March, Citigroup buying 1,000 March and 200 December, Man Financial buying 1,500 December, Rand Financial buying 2,000 December and Stern buying 1,000 December.

 

Sellers Monday included Cargill, which sold 1,500 March; Calyon Financial, which sold 2,000 December; Iowa Grain, which sold 2,500 December; Man Financial, which sold 1,000 March; and Tenco, which sold 1,000 December.

 

Oat futures settled modestly lower with the December contract slipping 1 cent to US$1.66 3/4 cents per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures ended mostly lower. The January contract did not trade and settled 2 1/2 cents lower at US$1.90 1/2 per gallon.