November 24, 2006

 

CBOT Corn Outlook on Friday: Seen steady in post-holiday trade

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures are expected to start trading steady Friday following the Thanksgiving Day holiday with the lack of fresh news expected to limit market activity with some traders extending their holiday.

 

The CBOT will close at 12:00 p.m. CST Friday.

 

In overnight e-CBOT trading, December corn slipped 1/2 cent to US$3.62 1/4 cents per bushel and March gained 1 1/4 cents to US$3.79 1/2. e-CBOT volume in March was 2,040 contracts.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly corn export sales were 1.04 million metric tonnes for the week ended Nov. 16, slightly below analyst estimates of 1.1-1.4 million tonnes. Israel, Japan and Mexico were the largest buyers on the week.

 

Corn export sales were mediocre and there was not much in the way of fresh news, a floor analyst said. It all depends on who shows up to trade Friday, he added. The market closes early Friday, and some traders are extending their holiday, so it could be a quiet session, but a lot depends upon the professional speculative money and what it wants to do, he noted.

 

On day session open auction technical charts the bulls remain in technical control, a technical analyst said. The bulls' next upside price objective remains closing prices above technical resistance at the December contract high of US$3.72 per bushel. The bears' next near-term downside price objective continues to be closing prices below support at US$3.40. First resistance for December corn is seen at Wednesday's high of US$3.65 1/2 and then at US$3.72. First support is seen at US$3.57 1/2 and then at US$3.55.

 

In other corn news, China's corn exports will total around 4 million metric tonnes in the November-February period, the country's National Grains & Oils Information Center said Friday.

 

Since July, China has signed contracts to export 4 million tonnes of corn CNGOIC said, citing the country's National Development and Reform Commission. Rising prices on the international market has made corn exports from China more competitive, the NRDC said.

 

According to Chinese Customs, China's corn exports totaled 2.37 million tonnes in the January-October period.

 

Corn futures on China's Dalian Commodities Exchange ended slightly higher. The benchmark May contract rose RMB/2 to RMB 1,586/tonne.