Speculators bullish on CBOT corn, soyabeans

Large speculators raised their net long stake in Chicago Board of Trade soyabean and corn futures and options for the second week in a row as a heatwave descended upon the US Midwest, stressing the developing crops and casting a bullish spell on grain markets.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly Commitments of Traders report showed that the non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, nearly doubled their net long stake in soyabeans to the biggest level in almost three months. Open interest in both market also rose, a sign that investors were taking money off the sidelines and putting it into the grain markets.
The large speculators added 31,534 long contracts and cut 6,326 shorts to their soyabean position in the week ended July 19, leaving them with a net long stake of 78,011 contracts. The last time the non-commercials held that big of a large position was in the week ended April 26. Non-commercial traders also boosted their net long stake in CBOT corn to 187,594 - the biggest in a month - by adding 21,962 long contracts and cutting 4,008 shorts.
In CBOT wheat, the large speculators exited 9,495 short positions and cut 1,565 long contracts leaving them net short 40,551. The non-commercial traders held their smallest net short position in CBOT wheat since the week ended June 21. Trade sources indicated that mutual funds were net buyers of CBOT soyabeans and wheat during the past few days and net sellers of corn.
Index traders, which typically hold their positions for longer periods of time than then non-commercial traders, bucked the bullish trend of the trend-following funds. The index funds reduced their net long positions in CBOT wheat, soyabeans and corn. In CBOT corn, index funds cut 7,732 short contracts from their position while adding 2,234 longs, leaving them with a net long stake of 368,278. Index funds sold 970 long soyabean contracts and added 642 shorts, leaving them net long 167,071 soyabean contracts. The index traders cut 5,278 long contracts from their wheat position while adding 924 shorts to end the week with a net long position of 207,150 contracts.