Grain futures on the Chicago Board of Trade slumped early Friday in choppy action as players adjusted positions ahead of index-fund portfolio rebalancing, traders said. Some technically based buying was noted after the front-month March corn contract briefly breached key support at $6 but bounced right back. Chart support in the most-active March was put at $13.60.
"Everyone is still bullish," commented one floor analyst. "They'd like to be long going into the (US Department of Agriculture) crop reports," slated for release next Wednesday. The index rebalancing, expected to begin Friday and continue through Thursday, is expected to produce a spate of selling in the next week, with some predicting sales of about 34,000 to 38,000 contracts in corn, 7,500 in soyabeans and a little more than 19,000 in wheat.
CBOT trends at 10:30 am CST (1630 GMT):
-- March wheat down 3/4 cents at $7.88-1/4 per bushel.
-- March corn down 1 cent at $6.01 per bushel.
-- March soyabeans down 6-1/2 cents at $13.63 per bushel.
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