December 1, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Wednesday: Higher on position squaring, spillover

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade finished mostly higher Wednesday, underpinned by position squaring and late spillover support from wheat, floor traders said.

 

December corn gained 1 1/4 cents to US$1.87 1/2 per bushel, March corn also rose 1 1/4 cents to US$2.01 3/4, and May corn rose 3/4 cent to US$2.10 per bushel.

 

"Corn can't go down every day," a commission house broker said. It was due for an up day, plus it's the end of the month and some people wanted to even up their positions, he added.

 

Other traders noted the firm tone in soybeans and soy meal early in the session, which helped provide support for corn.

 

Late in the session, a rebound in wheat futures added additional support after soybeans slipped to trade near unchanged levels at midday, before staging a late rebound, sources said.

 

CBOT March wheat settled up 4 cents to US$3.20 3/4, after trading as low as US$3.11 3/4, while January soybeans also ended up 4 cents higher at US$5.58.

 

The continued lack of fresh news limited the gains in corn, traders said, with news of a cancellation of a 200,000 metric tonne sale of corn to Egypt the only news of interest, which was ignored by the market, analysts said.

 

Trading volume was estimated to be significantly less than Tuesday, when almost 240,000 contracts traded.

 

Buyers on Wednesday included ABN Amro buying 500 March, Goldenberg Hehmeyer buying 200 March, R.J. O'Brien buying 200 December and O'Connor buying 200 December.

 

Sellers Wednesday included Cargill selling 300 December, FC Stone selling 200 December, Fimat selling 500 March, Iowa Grain selling 400 December, Morgan selling 600 March and Tenco selling 500 March.

 

In spread trading, ADM was noted spreading 2,000 December-March and Deutsche Bank spread 1,000 March-December.

 

Oat futures settled mixed, with the December contract up 3 1/2 cents to US$1.85 per bushel with the March contract falling 3 1/4 cents to US$1.81 1/4, on position evening, a floor analyst said.

 

Ethanol futures ended mixed. The January contract settled 1 1/2 cents higher to US$1.85 cents per gallon.

 

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release the weekly export sales for the week of Nov. 24 at 7:30 a.m. CST (1330 GMT). Analysts expect corn sales between 800,000-1,000,000 metric tonnes.