CANBERRA: US corn futures edged lower on Monday, retreating from a more than two-month high touched in the previous session, though concerns about harvest delays across the United States capped losses.

FUNDAMENTALS

• The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were down 0.2% at $5.67-1/4 a bushel by 0214 GMT, having gained 1% in the previous session when prices hit a high of $5.69-1/4 a bushel, the highest since Aug. 17.

  • The most active soybean futures were down 0.2% at $12.47-1/4 a bushel, having firmed 0.3% on Friday.

  • The most active wheat futures were up 0.4% at $7.76 a bushel, having closed little changed on Friday.

  • Corn draws support as harvest delays tighten supplies in the United States.

  • Private exporters reported the sale of 279,415 tonnes of corn to Mexico and 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2021/22 marketing year, the US Agriculture Department said last Friday. Separate soybean sales totalling 222,350 tonnes also were reported.

  • Poor spring wheat harvests and an export duty imposed by Russia have heightened expectations of relatively tight wheat supplies this season.

MARKET NEWS

• The dollar traded near a 2 1/2-week high to major peers on Monday as quickening inflation in the United States boosted the case for earlier Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

  • Oil prices fell on Monday after China said it released reserves of gasoline and diesel to boost supply, while investors unwound long positions ahead of an OPEC+ meeting on Nov. 4.

• Investors are weighing whether momentum from the stock market's record-breaking rally will continue in the last two months of 2021, a traditionally strong calendar period for equities but a stretch that may carry more risks than usual this year.