Grain futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were higher early on Monday, with corn and soyabean futures leading the gains amid still-dry crop weather in Argentina and higher crude oil futures, traders said. CBOT March corn also found support from technically based buying amid sentiment that last week's sell-off was overdone. The March corn contract was lifted above a previous key support level of $6.00.
CBOT wheat also was higher, but lagged corn and soyabean futures. March crude oil futures were last up $1.34 dollar a barrel at $89.37. In addition to Argentine weather concerns, expectations for ending stocks in the upcoming US Department of Agriculture crop reports slated for release on Wednesday are more supportive for corn and soyabeans than for wheat, sources said. Traders also are eyeing expected index rebalancing. Thus far, an anticipated wave of selling related to annual index adjustments has been relatively limited, they said.
CBOT trends at 10:26 am CST (1626 GMT) on Thursday:
-- March wheat up 5-1/4 cents at $7.79-1/4 per bushel.
-- March corn up 15-3/4 cents at $6.10-3/4 per bushel.
-- March soyabeans up 18-1/4 cents at $13.76-1/4 per bushel.