November 2, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Tuesday: Up slightly on soy spillover, fund buying

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended at slightly higher levels Tuesday, with nearby December finishing above the previous day's settlement price for the first time in five trading sessions as spillover from soybeans and fund buying supported prices, sources said.

 

December corn rose 1/2 cent to US$1.96 3/4 per bushel, March corn gained 1/2 cent to US$2.10 3/4, and May corn also finished 1/2 cent higher at US$2.19 1/4 per bushel.

 

"Corn was responding to stronger soybean and soymeal prices as well as light fund buying and short covering," a commission house broker said. Otherwise, the market remained quiet with little fresh news to move it past recent levels, he added.

 

Technical and fund buying helped lift soybeans and soybean meal, with January soybeans settling 9 3/4 cents higher to US$5.74 1/2 and December soy meal gaining US$3.80 to US$173.50.

 

Commodity fund buying was estimated at 2,500 contracts in corn on Tuesday.

 

Traders also noted some caution in Tuesday's trade as the market is waiting on Tuesday afternoon's release of crop production and yield data from private trading firm FC Stone ahead of next week's U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

 

In October, the firm estimated the U.S. corn crop at 10.980 billion bushels with a yield of 147.6 bushels per acre.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in October estimated corn production at 10.857 billion bushels with a yield of 146.1 bushels per acre.

 

A return to warmer and drier weather is in store for much of the U.S. Midwest over the next several days, with early rainfall having little effect on harvest activities, DTN Meteorlogix weather said.

 

Through Sunday, 80% of the U.S. corn crop had been harvested, according to the USDA.

 

Buyers on Tuesday included Fimat buying 2,500 December, ABN Amro buying 1,000 December and Rand financial buying 300 December.

 

Sellers Tuesday included Calyon Financial selling 1,200 December and 200 March, O'Connor selling 700 December, Fimat selling 500 December, Tenco selling 400 December and ADM selling 200 December and 100 May.

 

Buyers and sellers in options included Citigroup buying 3,000 March US$2.20 calls, Cargill selling 1,000 March US$2.10 calls and FC Stone selling 500 March US$2.20 puts.

 

Oat futures settled modestly higher, recovering from Monday's technically based declines, a floor analyst said. The December contract ended up 2 cents to US$1.60 3/4 cents per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures finished mostly higher. The January contract did not trade and finished 2 1/2 cents higher at US$1.90 1/2 per gallon.