December 31, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Friday: Rallies late on fund buying

 

 

Corn futures finished higher Friday at the Chicago Board of Trade as late fund buying lifted futures higher in active trading on the close, sources said. The market closed early ahead of the New Year's holiday.

 

March corn gained 4 3/4 cents to US$2.15 3/4 per bushel, May corn jumped 5 cents to US$2.25, and July rallied 3 1/2 cents to 2.32 per bushel.

 

Corn traded lower for much of the session on follow-through selling from Thursday's price weakness and light technical selling, with most-active March slipping beneath support at US$2.10 on charts and adding to small scale losses, traders said.

 

Export sales well below analyst's estimates also added light pressure as it continues to underscore the lack of demand from importing countries, sources said.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly corn export sales of 360,200 metric tonnes for the week ended Dec. 22, a low for the marketing year.

 

Futures traded within thin ranges for much of the morning before recovering wheat and soybean prices helped corn begin to firm, floor sources said.

 

Trading volume was relatively light before the close, when heavy fund buying caused prices to spike upwards in the last few minutes of trading, a floor broker said.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 7,000 contracts.

 

On technical charts, March corn opened below its 10-day moving average but settled just below its 100-day moving average of US$2.16 1/2.

 

Buyers on Friday included ADM buying 500 March, Fimat bought 1,500 March and 200 July, O'Connor bought 1,000 March, R.J. O'Brien bought 1,000 March, Rand Financial bought 1,000 March and Tenco bought 800 March.

 

Sellers Friday included ADM selling 1,500 March, ABN Amro selling 1,000 March the RIS division of Man Financial selling 500 March, Fimat selling 1,000 March and 100 July, the Refco division of Man Financial selling 500 March, and Tenco selling 300 March. 
 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 1,100 contracts.

 

Oat futures ended unchanged to slightly lower, with the March contract settling 1/2 cent lower to US$1.95 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures settled sharply higher. The most-active April contract jumped 10 cents, finishing at US$2.10 per gallon.

 

The CBOT agricultural markets will be closed Monday in observance of the New Year's holiday.