US grain markets rose on Tuesday as investors grew more confident that Europe would resolve its debt crisis and a weaker dollar sparked a rally in commodities. Italy's successful completion of its closely watched bond auction calmed fears about eurozone debt issues.
"There is still optimism on Europe, even though we are far from a plan," said Dan Cekander, grains analyst with Newedge USA in Chicago. Data showing a rebound in consumer confidence buoyed Wall Street, and higher crude oil prices added to the momentum for soyabeans and corn which are used to produce biofuels. Strength in the external markets helped trigger short-covering in grains after a recent slide in prices to multimonth lows.
Weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, raised their net short position in Chicago Board of Trade wheat to the highest level since at least January 2006. At the CBOT as of 10:32 am CST (1632 GMT), most-active March wheat was up 12-3/4 cents at $6.05-3/4 per bushel. January soyabeans were up 11 cents at $11.32 a bushel and March corn rose 5 cents at $6.03-1/2 a bushel.