Chicago Board of Trade corn futures sagged on Tuesday on speculative sales and light early positioning ahead of next week's key USDA crop report, traders said.
CBOT corn futures were last down 1-1/2 cents per bushel to unchanged, with March down 1-1/2 cents at $2.51-1/2. Refco Inc bought 200 March and sold 400 March early, traders said.
Technical support for CBOT March corn held at Monday's low of $2.51 per bushel, while resistance held at Monday's high of $2.56, traders said.
The CFTC reported on Monday that large speculators were net long by more than a 3-to-1 ratio for the week ended Tuesday, December 30, offering the possibility of long liquidation into Monday's key USDA crop report.
Funds were long 124,889 lots, down 26,753, and short 34,731, up 5,061 lots. For futures and options combined, funds also cut their net long position. Funds were long 94,530 contracts, down 29,576, and short 35,094, up 6,539 from the previous week.
The US Department of Agriculture will release on Monday morning its final 2002/2003 US corn crop production figure, the December 1 US corn stocks tally, and its usual monthly supply and demand data. Some CBOT traders looked for a slight boost in USDA's 2002/03 production figure.
Tuesday's CBOT corn losses were limited by relatively firm US cash basis markets, traders said. US farmer corn sales have slowed from Friday's good movement on a CBOT rally to seven-month highs, with US farmers reportedly awaiting higher prices, dealers said.
Comments
Comments are closed.