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CBOT corn closes lower on soyabean drop, correction

CHICAGO: Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Monday, pressed by a drop in soyabeans and a correction from recent gains.

Corn closed 2-1/4 to 4-1/4 cents lower with March down 3-1/2 at $2.20.

Soyabeans led CBOT markets lower Monday after unexpected rains fell in Brazil's southern soyabean belt over the weekend. A technical setback was also under way in corn futures after the market rose last week to the highest levels in more than four months, traders said. Traders also expressed some nervousness over a huge buildup in speculative long positions in corn futures this month.

The latest Commitments of Traders reports from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicated that speculative funds accumulated a significant number of long positions in the corn market as prices surged over the past two weeks.

The CFTC said noncommercial interests, which are primarily funds, held 129,700 long corn futures contracts and 20,288 shorts as of Jan. 25, for a net long of 109,482 contracts. As of Jan. 11, the net noncommercial long was 22,914.

In export news, the Korea Feed Association bought 210,000 tonnes of Chinese, U.S. or Argentine corn via private talks last week, traders said.

Funds sold at least 4,700 contracts on the day. Carr Futures sold 1,600 March, Cargill Investor Services sold 1,000 March and Prudential Securities sold 1,000 March, traders said.

Corn futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 70,000 lots, above the 50,644 lots traded Friday.

Corn options volume was estimated at 14,000 lots.-Reuters