December 25, 2007

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Ends higher in thin pre-holiday activity

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled with mild gains Monday in thin pre-holiday activity in an abbreviated trading session.

 

March corn settled 1/2 cent higher at US$4.44 per bushel.

 

The CBOT closed at 1:00 p.m. EST and will remain closed Tuesday for Christmas.

 

Light position squaring ahead of the holiday after rallying to new life-of-contract highs last week limited the upside early on, but corn rebounded to trade near unchanged levels on modest gains set in soybeans.

 

Soybean prices firmed and the rest of the floor followed, a commission house analyst said. New contract highs were set in several soybean futures contracts.

 

March soybeans settled 3 1/4 cents higher at US$11.99 1/4 after trading as high as US$12.00.

 

Beyond the firm tonnee is soybeans, there was little to influence corn futures in either direction, an e-cbot trader said.

 

The absence of some participants before the holiday also added to the quiet tonnee, the analyst said.

 

On daily technical charts, electronically traded March corn remained above its major moving averages and traded an inside day, between the high and low established in Friday's session.

 

Oat futures settled unchanged to modestly lower in very limited trade. Oats are taking their direction from corn and soybeans and with those markets quiet compared to recent sessions there was not much interest in oats, an analyst said.

 

March oats ended unchanged at US$3.05 1/2 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures finished lower. January ethanol settled at US$2.219, down .001 cent per gallon while February slipped 1 cent to US$2.14.

 

Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release the weekly export inspections report at 11:00 a.m. EST.