CHICAGO: US corn futures fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday in a broad commodities market sell-off led by crude oil, fueled by a stronger US dollar, traders said.
Rising supplies of the grain amid an expected record-large US harvest also weighed on prices.
The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade December corn futures contract settled down 6-1/2 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $3.51 a bushel after earlier hitting a three-month high of $3.59-1/4. The contract briefly climbed above its 100-day moving average but closed well below that key technical level.
The US dollar rose to its highest point in seven months against a basket of currencies after the European Central Bank President left the door open to more monetary stimulus at its policy meeting.
The 19-market Thomson Reuters Core Commodity CRB Index dropped about 0.9 percent.
Corn futures fell despite stronger-than-expected export sales in a weekly report. The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday said export sales of US corn in the latest week at 1,022,900 tonnes, above a range of trade expectations for 700,000 to 900,000 tonnes.
China will suspend auctions from its state corn reserves to encourage purchasing of new crop corn, the National Grain Trade Center said.
China's Dalian corn futures rallied more than 2 percent amid speculation that Beijing may introduce subsidies for corn processors in an effort to boost consumption, analysts said.
Strategie Grains raised its 2016/17 EU corn production forecast by 500,000 tonnes to 59.8 million.
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