Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up sharply on Friday, boosted by a big number for corn in USDA's weekly export sales report and on a rally to 34-year highs in soya, traders said. At 11:24 am CST (1724 GMT), CBOT corn was up 3 to 7-3/4 cents per bushel, with December up 7-1/2 at $3.89-1/2 per bushel.
Traders said the corn market received a strong lift on Friday from updated numbers for corn in the latest US government export sales report. USDA earlier Friday said 1,847,000 tonnes of corn (old-crop/new-crop) were sold for export last week, above estimates for 1,300,000 to 1,500,000 tonnes.
Crop weather has moved to the background as a market factor because the US 2007 corn harvest is nearly complete. The December contract is above all key moving averages and first key support is at the 20 day MA of $3.78 per bushel. The nine-day relative strength index for December is at 63.
Traders view an RSI of 30 or less as one indication of an oversold market and 70 or more as an indication of an overbought market. Oat futures were up 3/4 cent to down 1 cent, with December down 1 at $2.75-1/2 per bushel.