December 20, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Higher on late soy rally

 

 

Corn futures traded at the Chicago Board of Trade finished modestly higher on Monday, as a late rally in soybeans and soy meal helped underpin prices, sources said.

 

March corn rose 1 1/4 cents to US$2.08 3/4 per bushel, with May adding 1 1/2 cents to US$2.17 3/4. July also settled 1 1/2 cents higher at US$2.26 3/4 per bushel.

 

Corn opened the session higher on a firm tonnee overnight as well as technical buying, but the market bumped up against technical resistance around the US$2.10 level and was unable to push higher in the early going, said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Large cash market supplies remain and the carry continues to widen, he noted, making it tough to rally. Export inspections Monday morning were good, but it was a one-week event. The numbers should weaken in these next two holiday weeks, he added.

 

The market then traded on both sides of Friday's settlement prices before a late-session speculative rally in soybean and soy meal futures helped corn recover to finish higher. March soybeans surged 18 cents to US$6.20 1/2 with March soy meal jumping US$7.50 to US$199.20 per tonne.

 

U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export inspection figure came in at 44.005 million bushels, above the 31-36 million bushels expected by analysts.

 

Several analysts noted fewer reports of bird flu from China in the past week, leading to ideas that China's recent aggressive corn export program could be reduced if poultry flocks in that country were rebuilt.

 

Buyers on Monday included UBS buying 800 March, Calyon Financial buying 500 March, Tenco buying 400 March, Man Financial buying 400 May and Iowa Grain buying 400 July.

 

Sellers Monday included Calyon selling 1,000 March, O'Connor selling 1,000 March, Tenco selling 1,000 March, R.J. O'Brien selling 500 March and ADM selling 200 March.

 

Oat futures surged as speculative led buying pushed prices higher after sharp losses were set late last week. The March contract settled 10 1/2 cents higher to US$1.94 1/2 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures finished higher on the session as well. The most-active April contract gained 3 cents to US$2.00 per gallon.