DJ CBOT Corn Review: Higher On Funds, Nearby Hits New High CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Corn futures traded at the Chicago Board of Trade settled higher Friday, with the nearby contract finishing at its highest level since mid-summer. Buying from trend following commodity funds underpinned prices with technical buying also adding to the modest gains, traders said.
May corn settled 1 1/2 cents higher to $2.43 per bushel, July finished 1 3/4 cents higher at $2.54 1/2 and December also ended 1 3/4 cents higher at $2.74 1/2. December made a new life of contract high.
"Corn is benefiting from a number of factors right now" said Mike Zuzolo, chief analyst with Risk Management Commodities, Lafayette, Ind.
The lower dollar is benefiting corn and its exports, but the second item is ethanol, he said.
The investment and trend following community looks at crude and energies. With the changes regarding the use of the gasoline additive MTBE, it puts a demand crunch on ethanol, Zuzolo said.
"These trend following funds think the bull market in energy is a long term play and corn equals energy in the form of ethanol," he added.
Commodity fund buying was estimated at 12,000 contracts.
The market also benefited from light technical buying, a floor analyst said. May held nearby support after opening lower but held above that level, encouraging buying interest and eventually moving above $2.43, last week's high, a floor analyst said.
Some position squaring was also mentioned early in the session by a floor trader, who noted Monday's supply and demand report.
Buyers Friday included ABN Amro, which bought 1,500 May, JP Morgan bought 5,000 May and 1,500 December, RJ O'Brien bought 2,000 May and 400 December, ADM bought 800 May, Rand Financial bought 500 December, and Fimat bought 400 May and 300 December.
Sellers Friday included FC Stone sold 300 May, Fimat sold 300 may, Man Financial sold 200 May, RJ O'Brien sold 200 May and UBS sold 200 May.
In spread trading Fimat bought 3,000 July-May, O'Connor bought 2,000 July-May and JP Morgan bought 1,500 July-May.
Oat futures ended lower as light technical selling weighed on price sin quiet trading a floor trader said. The May contract settled 1 cent lower $1.73 per bushel, and the July contract fell 2 3/4 cents to $1.76 3/4.
Ethanol futures settled mostly higher, with the April contract unchanged at $2.65 per gallon. The May contract finished up 3 cents at $2.62.
Friday afternoon the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled to release the latest commitment of traders report for the period ending April 4.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release the April supply and demand report at 7:30 a.m. CDT (1230 GMT), and the weekly export inspections report at 10:00 a.m. CDT (1500 GMT).
-By Joe Poncer; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-341-5778; [email protected]
