November 22, 2007

 

CBOT Corn Review on Wednesday: Slightly higher as limit-up wheat supports

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended with fractional gains as the limit-up rally in wheat futures provided thin support in a quiet, abbreviated pre-holiday session.

 

March corn settled 1/2 cent higher at US$3.98 3/4.

 

CBOT March wheat rallied 30 cents to US$8.26, its highest level since mid-October. Despite the rally in nearby wheat, corn was unable to muster much upside participation as weaker soybean prices and a sell-off in crude oil futures limited speculative buying interest, an analyst said.

 

"It was a narrow-range, dull trading day with little overall help from wheat futures," said Vic Lespinasse, of Illinois Grain. The weakness in crude oil limited inflationary-type buying in corn, however the losses in crude oil were partially offset by a lower tonnee in the U.S. dollar, Lespinasse said.

 

News that South Korea purchased 100,000 metric tonnes of U.S. corn ahead of the opening had little impact as the business was viewed as routine, a trader said.

 

Position squaring ahead of the holiday and the weekend also limited buying interest with some traders expected to be absent Friday. The CBOT will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and will be open for an abbreviated session Friday.

 

Corn's price direction Friday will be influenced by what happens in the "outside" inflationary markets as well as the weekly export sales report, a trader said. Analysts anticipate weekly corn export sales between 1 million and 1.55 million metric tonnes for the week ended Nov. 15.

 

On daily technical charts, electronically traded March had an "inside day," trading between the high and low levels established in Tuesday's session.

 

In options trading, Citigroup bought 700 March US$4.10 calls and sold 700 March US$4 calls.

 

Commodity fund selling was estimated at 1,000 contracts in open auction trading.

 

Oat futures settled with thin losses in quiet trade as light commercial selling in March weighed on prices, a trader said.

 

March oats finished 1/4 cent lower at US$2.89 1/4.

 

Ethanol futures finished unchanged to slightly lower. December ethanol declined .004 cent to US$1.916 per gallon and January ended flat at US$1.845.

 

The U.S. Department is scheduled to release the weekly export sales report at 0830 EST Friday. The report is delayed a day due to the holiday.