October 31, 2007
 
CBOT Corn Review on Tuesday: Down on position squaring, crude oil

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled lower and near session lows Tuesday, undermined by a sell-off in crude oil and metals amid consolidation after recent gains.

 

December corn settled 5 3/4 cents lower at US$3.70 1/4 per bushel.

 

The weaker inflationary markets exerted a negative influence on corn, said Brain Hoops, president of Midwest Market Solutions in Yanktonne, S.D.

 

Crude oil settled down US$3.15 at US$90.38 per barrel and gold and silver ended sharply lower.

 

Technical selling also added to the poor tonnee with a one-day island top, a bearish sell signal to speculative funds, said Hoops. Fund selling was estimated at 5,000 contracts.

 

A recommendation to close long positions in oil, gold and agriculture from a commission house also added to the weak tonnee, a trader said. In addition, corn moved lower as some participants were evening up positions before the end of the month and the Fed meeting on Wednesday, the trader said.

 

Late weakness in soybeans also added to the losses in corn, an analyst said. January soybeans fell 19 1/2 cents to US$10.09 1/4 per bushel.

 

There wasn't much news to trade on, a commission house analyst said. The harvest continues to roll and the weather looks to be conducive for additional combining activity, the analyst said.

 

A generally dry weather pattern is expected for the rest of this week which is expected to help the harvest of corn and soybeans, DTN Meteorlogix Weather said.

 

On daily technical charts, electronically traded December settled below its 200-day moving average but above its 10-day moving average.

 

In options trading, Rand Financial bought 2,000 December US$4.00 calls, and Citigroup bought 1,000 July US$4.60 calls and sold 1,000 July US$3.80 puts.

 

Oat futures finished with modest losses in light trade with flat price activity thin, an analyst said. Rolling out of nearby December into the deferred contracts by the funds was the feature of the session, the analyst said.

 

December oats settled 1 3/4 cents lower at US$2.83 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures settled lower. November ethanol fell 4 cents to US$1.75 per gallon and December also lost 4 cents to US$1.71.