CBOT corn closes higher

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended higher on Monday on technical buying after hitting overnight contract highs in most months, traders said.
The strength in the Chinese markets and the weakness in the US dollar to a 20-month low against the euro were supportive signs for commodities, steering more investment dollars into the grains, traders said.
December closed 2-1/4 cents higher $3.71-1/2 per bushel after hitting a contract high at $3.76-3/4 in heavy volume overnight when more than 25,000 contracts traded. The back months settled 2 to 9-1/4 cents higher.
New-crop December 2007 closed 6-1/4 cents higher at $3.67-1/2, getting a late minute jolt when commodity funds bought new-crop December corn and selling December 2007 wheat. Funds were net buyers of 2,000 lots, traders estimated.
Strong demand for US corn by ethanol manufacturers, livestock producers and exporters has fuelled the Chicago futures price to a 10-year high and remains a supportive feature. Concerns about other major exporters in the corn business, Argentina and China, helped ignite last week's run-up in prices which continued this week.
In fresh export news, South Korea bought 110,000 tonnes of optional-origin corn, Asian traders said. Chinese corn was priced $8/tonne cheaper than US or South American grain. Export inspections from last week were disappointing. USDA reported early Monday that 33.6 million bushels of US corn were inspected for export last week, which was below trade expectations for 40 million to 46 million.
Spot basis bids for corn in the Midwest were steady Monday, underpinned by quiet sales. Harvest has been dragging along in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana but last week's break in the rain opened a window for farmers to try and catch up a little. Corn harvest in those three states is 78 to 93 percent done.
The US corn harvest was nearly complete. USDA reported late Monday that 97 percent of the crop was off the field - slightly behind the five-year pace of 98 percent.
Weekly trade data was released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was issued on Monday afternoon, a day late due to the US Thanksgiving holiday last week. It showed that commodity funds slightly expanded their net long futures/options position in corn, remaining heavily weighted to the long side by a 5:1 margin. CBOT oat futures closed firm, following the strength in corn. December oats ended 2-1/2 cents higher at $2.60 per bushel.