December 2, 2005
CBOT Corn Review on Thursday: Higher on late fund, technical buying
Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade settled higher Thursday on late fund and technical buying, sources said, with March finishing at its highest level in almost a week.
December corn settled 1 3/4 cents higher at US$1.89 1/4 per bushel, March rose 2 cents to US$2.03 3/4, and May corn added on 2 1/4 cents to US$2.12 1/4.
"The funds sold it early and then came in late and bought it back," a floor trader said.
Technical buying also added to the firm tonnee late, with stops hit after March pushed above US$2.02 3/4, the week's high.
Price activity was choppy leading up to the close with futures trading on either side of unchanged. The lack of fresh positive inputs was cited by some traders for the dull tonnee.
Weekly export sales totaled 611,700 metric tonnes for the week ended Nov. 24, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lower than the 800,000-1 million metric tonnes expected by analysts.
Fund selling also kept futures tethered to trade on either side of Wednesday's settlement prices before the rally, sources said. Fund selling was estimated at more than 4,000 contracts at midday.
Buyers on Thursday included Cargill buying 500 March, Calyon Financial buying 500 March, Fimat purchasing 1,700 March, and R.J. O'Brien buying 200 March.
Sellers Thursday included ADM selling 1,000 March, Cargill selling 500 March, Calyon selling 2,000 March, Fimat selling 1,800 March, and O'Connor selling 1,800 March.
In spread trading, Tenco spread 600 December-March and ADM spread 700 March-December.
Oat futures surged in the nearby month as December rallied sharply on short covering and the lack of deliveries posted against it, sources said. The December contract surged 15 cents to finish at US$2.00, with the March contract settling 4 1/2 cents higher at US$1.85 3/4.
Ethanol futures ended mostly higher. The January contract did not trade but finished 1 1/2 cents higher to US$1.86 1/2 cents per gallon.
