Thursday: China soy futures settle tad up; but strong dollar weighs

 

 

China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Thursday on the heels of a rise on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight, but the increase was capped by a sudden selloff following the dollar's rebound in Asian trading.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB11, or 0.3%, higher at RMB4,038 a metric tonne.

 

The contract opened up and edged higher early in the morning session. But an appreciation in the greenback triggered selling from the late morning, and finally caused it to tumble into negative territory.

 

The U.S. dollar strengthened against other major currencies in Asia Thursday on concerns over European bond markets and the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee's slightly hawkish statement overnight.

 

Commodities across the board, from agricultural products to metals, were plagued by the stronger dollar.

 

Meanwhile, window dressing by companies ahead of book closing dates at the end of the year also weighed on prices, said Dong Shuangwei, an analyst with Capital Futures.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 641,204 lots from 453,068 lots Wednesday.

 

Open interest rose 494 lots to 408,950 lots Thursday.

 

Corn futures, soymeal futures, palm oil futures and soyoil futures all settled higher.

 

              Contract     Settlement Price  Change     Volume

Soy         Sep 2010      4,038        Up   11       641,204

Corn       Sep 2010      1,875        Up    2        103,944

Soymeal  Sep 2010      3,009        Up   10     1,670,614

Palm Oil  Sep 2010      7,076        Up    70      613,428

Soyoil     Sep 2010      7,946        Up    24     1,341,344