March 15, 2006

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle mixed; corn up on CBOT

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Wednesday as overnight gains in soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade kept local speculators to the sidelines.

 

"Speculators who tentatively built short positions yesterday didn't get the confirmation they hoped for from CBOT," said Xu Yulan, an analyst with Yong'an Futures Co.

 

"Local investors began to be cautious again...still not sure about the trend," Xu said.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract opened higher on the CBOT gains, but long liquidation slightly outpaced short-covering in the course of the day. It settled RMB7 higher at RMB2,696 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,688/tonne and RMB2,702/tonne.

 

Total trading volume sharply shrank to 33,506 lots from 81,160 lots Tuesday.

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mixed.

 

The benchmark September contract rose RMB2 to settle at RMB2,607/tonne.

 

Most soymeal futures settled up, even though long liquidation trimmed some gains after the contracts opened higher.

 

The benchmark September 2006 contract rose RMB8 to settle at RMB2,309/tonne, after trading between RMB2,301/tonne and RMB2,317/tonne.

 

Soyoil futures settled mostly higher. The benchmark September 2006 contract settled at RMB5,229/tonne, up RMB12.

 

Most corn futures settled slightly higher on overnight gains in CBOT corn.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract settled RMB2 higher at RMB1,417/tonne.