September 26, 2008
Friday: China soybean futures settle up; consolidate in narrow range
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Friday, consolidating in a narrow range in the last session ahead of next week's long holiday.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB6 higher at RMB4,035 a metric tonne, or up 0.1%, after trading in a RMB4,014-RMB4,048/tonne range.
Traders were reducing their positions heavily as China's financial markets will remain closed from Sept. 29 through Oct. 5 for the National Day holiday.
As it is unclear how and when the global financial institutions' crisis will be resolved, traders are reluctant to hold large positions during the long holiday, said analysts.
The financial market now decides the fate of the commodities market, which is largely dominated by speculative funds, said Yu Haifeng, an analyst at Tianqi Futures.
The open interest in all soybean contracts fell 34,316 lots to 360,002 lots Friday.
Corn and soybean meal futures settled lower, while soybean oil and palm oil futures settled mostly higher.
Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Jan 2009 4,035 Up 6 778,708
Corn May 2009 1,763 Dn 3 171,856
Soy Meal Jan 2009 3,430 Dn 17 454,276
Palm Oil Jan 2009 6,498 Up 16 210,062
Soy Oil Jan 2009 8,244 Up 72 617,380