December 23, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Outlook on Friday: Seen flat in holiday shortened trade

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are expected to open little changed Friday, following a quiet overnight electronic trading session, sources said.

 

In overnight e-CBOT trading, March corn ended flat at US$2.12 3/4 per bushel, May also ended unchanged at US$2.21 1/2, and July edged up 1/4 cent higher to US$2.30 per bushel.

 

Corn futures should trade on both sides of Thursday's settlement prices, said Shawn McCambridge, senior grain analyst with Prudential Financial in Chicago. We could see the market generate some of the strength it exhibited Thursday; however, it is a little overbought at these levels and could trade closer to support levels with trading expected to be light ahead of the holiday, he added.

 

It's a holiday trading atmosphere, said one floor analyst, with the market at the mercy of whoever shows up Friday.

 

Thursday, March corn rallied late in the session, moving past resistance levels and settling at 5-week highs.

 

Futures markets at the CBOT will close at 12:00 p.m. CST (1800 GMT) ahead of the Christmas holiday and will also be closed on Monday.

 

Widely scattered showers and thundershowers occurred in Argentina on Thursday with additional scattered rainfall expected on Friday in parts of the country, according to DTN Meteorlogix weather. Mostly dry conditions are forecast for the weekend with temperatures expected near normal, DTN said.

 

Cash market basis bids are unchanged to mostly higher Friday morning. Central Illinois is unchanged at 3 cents over the March future, while St. Louis was also unchanged at 5 cents over the March future.

 

On technical charts, there is good technical evidence that a low is in place in March futures, a technical analyst said. First resistance for March corn is pegged at US$2.13 1/4 and then at US$2.15. Support is seen at US$2.10 1/2, Thursday's low and then at US$2.08.

 

In other agricultural news, Russia expects to export 10 million metric tonnes of grain in the current marketing year (June 05-July 06), according to Russia's agriculture minister.

 

Ukraine grain exports are expected to reach 11 million metric tonnes of grain in the current marketing year (June 05-July 06), down from the 11.4 million tonnes exported in the previous year, agriculture minister Alexander Baranivsky said.

 

Corn futures ended higher at China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, sources said. The most-active September contract rose RMB7 to RMB1,356/tonne.