CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures fell on Friday, as hefty supply from a rapid US harvest weighed heavily over contracts, market analysts said.
But corn and soybean futures ended the week higher, as a recent boom in US export sales bolstered prices, traders said. In wheat, recent rains and forecasts of more wet weather in the drought-hit US Plains allayed some concerns about the crop, while traders continued to monitor the potential impact of Russian efforts to regulate exports, potentially leaving US suppliers holding large wheat supplies. CBOT’s most-active soybean futures contract ended the day down 8-1/2 cents at $9.87-3/4, while corn settled down 6-1/4 cents at $4.15-1/4 a bushel. CBOT wheat ended down 12-1/2 cents at $5.69 per bushel - and also ended the week lower.
On Friday, corn and soy fell after reaching their highest points in about two weeks on Thursday when the US Department of Agriculture reported the biggest weekly volume of US corn export sales in three years while also announcing more daily corn and soybean export sales. But follow-through buying after the rally was limited, said Randy Place, analyst at Hightower Report, noting that supplies of those crops remains very large, while favourable South American weather also drags on soybean prices.
Meanwhile, the falling price of Ukrainian corn means US corn is no longer the cheapest, making it less competitive for export sales, he said. Some election gambling platforms are showing odds favouring a US presidential victory by Donald Trump, noted Marex analyst Charlie Sernatinger.
Polymarket, an election gambling site put those odds at 62%, causing jitters among traders that a second Trump administration would raise trade tensions with China and weaken demand for US exports. Polymarket said on Thursday that those odds were affected by one French trader who had made large crypto-fueled bets based on “personal views of the election.”
Comments