CHICAGO: US corn futures fell to a nine-month low Thursday on continued technical selling and fund liquidation, while soybeans hit a 10-month low on worries that bird flu cases in China may slow feed demand there, traders said.
Wheat was lower in choppy trade but rumors of Chinese purchases of US soft wheat underpinned the market.
At the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:16 p.m. CDT (1916 GMT), May corn was down 11-1/2 cents at $6.30 per bushel after falling to $6.27, the lowest spot corn price since June 25.
May soybeans were down 8-1/4 cents at $13.72 per bushel after dipping to $13.61, the lowest spot soybean price since June 6.
May wheat was down 2-1/2 cents at $6.94 a bushel.
Corn posted the biggest declines on a percentage basis. The market's move appeared mostly technical with sales accelerating as front-month May corn fell below Tuesday's low of $6.34.
The corn market has been in liquidation mode since March 28, when the US Department of Agriculture reported larger-than-expected US grain stockpiles.
"With May and July taking out the recent lows, that's a very negative technical signal. People who have been trying gently to buy this market and maybe find a bottom - you've wrecked those ideas," said Terry Linn, analyst with the Linn Group in Chicago.
The May and July corn contracts also lost ground to new-crop December as traders scrambled to exit old crop/new crop spread positions.
<Center><b><i>Copyright Reuters, 2013</b></i><br></center>
Comments
Comments are closed.