Nogger's Blog

14/01/11 -- Corn

March 11 corn closed at USD6.48 3/4, up 6 1/4 cents; New crop December 11 corn closed at USD5.71 1/4, up 3/4 cent. Corn was lower early in the session, but switched in positive territory as funds bought an estimated 9,000 contracts on the day. March corn was up 53 3/4c on the week following the release of a bullish USDA report on Wednesday. After closing near limit up that night, corn managed to maintain enough bullish momentum to see it through until the end of the week, if only just. News that China continues to tighten it's fiscal policy took a bit of the bullish shine off the markets today.

Soybeans

Expiring Jan 11 soybeans went off the board at USD14.06 1/2, down 3 1/2 cents; New front month Mar 11 soybeans closed at USD14.22 1/2, up 6 1/2 cents; New crop Nov 11 soybeans closed at USD13.23 1/4, up 10 3/4 cents; Jan 11 soybean Meal closed at USD377.00, down USD1.60; Jan 11 soybean oil closed at 56.70, down 60 points. Jan beans gained 48 3/4 cents of the week. The NOPA December soybean crush came below expectations at 149.4 million bushels, 18.8 million bushels down from a year ago. Argentina will get a welcome cool down next week, but variable rains may miss some needy Central and Northern areas.

Wheat

Mar 11 CBOT wheat closed at USD7.73 1/4, down 10 1/4 cents; Mar 11 KCBT wheat closed at USD8.60, down 8 1/2 cents; Mar 11 MGEX wheat closed at USD8.90 1/4, down 3 1/2 cents. The gap between lower protein SRW Chicago and the premium wheats of Kansas & Minneapolis continues to widen. Despite corn and beans maintaining their upwards momentum stoked up by Wednesday's bullish USDA report, wheat couldn't hold onto its gains today. Mar CBOT wheat actually closed the week 3/4 cent lower overall, whereas the other two exchanges posted gains of around 15-20 cents.