US soyabean prices fell for the third day in a row on Tuesday, hitting a three-week low after Greece's call for a referendum on its debt bailout package and MF Global's bankruptcy rattled traders. Corn and wheat traded lower most of the day but found fresh legs in late dealings, closing higher as light volume contributed to a volatile session.
When US grain trading closed at 1:15 pm CDT (1815 GMT), the dollar remained over 1 percent higher, crude oil was down over 1 percent and the Dow stock market index remained roughly 1-1/2 percent lower. Greece's ruling party lawmakers demanded that Prime Minister George Papandreou resign for throwing the nation's euro membership into jeopardy with a shock call for a referendum on the country's debt bailout.
"The twin factors are the Greek Prime Minister's decision as well as MF Global uncertainty," said Rich Nelson, director of research for Allendale Inc. "But I have to say each market (grains) traded better than I thought they would earlier in the day."
Greece's referendum call sent investors scurrying for safer investments on Tuesday, hammering stocks and punishing the euro. Chicago Board of Trade December wheat was up 1-3/4 cents per bushel at $6.30, December corn was up 7-1/4 at $6.54-1/4 January soyabeans were down 14-3/4 at $12.02-1/2. Dealers continued to monitor news on MF Global.
The US-based futures brokerage MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection following bad bets on eurozone debt. Its meltdown - in less than a week - made it the biggest US casualty of Europe's debt crisis and the seventh-largest bankruptcy by assets in US history. MF Global's main exchange regulator the CME Group Inc said on Tuesday that the brokerage failed to keep its customers' accounts separate from the firm's funds, a violation of a key tenet of futures brokerage.
Trading in Australian grain futures and options was suspended on bourse operator ASX Ltd's futures platform following the collapse of MF Global. MF Global was one of the key players in the Australian agricultural futures market, actively promoting new initiatives such as the introduction of the Western Australian wheat.