December 21, 2007
CBOT Corn Review on Thursday: Higher; speculative buying supports
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled modestly higher Thursday and near session highs set on the close, shrugging off early weakness as thin fund buying and late speculative buying helped underpin prices, an analyst said.
March corn settled 2 3/4 cents higher at US$4.37 1/2 per bushel.
With the holidays approaching, volume activity was light and as a result it didn't take much to influence market direction, the analyst said.
Slightly higher soybean prices helped keep a bid in corn as corn prices need to keep pace with soybeans in order to encourage plantings in 2008, said Jason Britt, a broker and analyst at Central States Commodities in Kansas City. "The current buy every dip mentality participants have in corn seems to be working right now," he said.
Weekly corn export sales were within the range expected by analysts and were called "supportive" by a floor trader. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly corn export sales were 1.169 million metric tonnes for the week ended Dec. 13, within the 800,000 to 1.3 million tonnes expected by analysts.
Weaker wheat prices helped keep the market on the defensive early in the session, but it was a "role reversal type of day" with wheat sharply lower after Wednesday's gains and corn modestly higher," a trader said. CBOT March wheat settled 19 1/2 cents lower at US$9.54 per bushel.
In open auction activity, commodity fund buying was estimated at 1,000 contracts.
On daily technical charts, electronically traded March corn remained above its major moving averages.
In options trading, JP Morgan sold 500 July US$3.50 puts.
Oat futures ended with modest gains as light speculative buying supported prices in thin pre-holiday trade, an analyst said.
March oats settled 2 1/4 cents higher to US$3.03 1/4 per bushel.
Ethanol futures settled slightly higher. January ethanol rose 1.6 cents to US$2.18 per gallon while February gained .007 cent to US$2.10.
