Monday April 12th, 2010

Corn ended higher Monday on a weaker dollar, although traders and analysts remain unenthused about the market's fundamentals. Prices were higher for most of the day thanks to the weaker dollar, which typically steers investors into commodities. But prices could not climb more than 4-5 cents, and traders said the upside would remain limited if the weather stayed favorable to planting. Some traders and analysts say bears could be hard-pressed to push the market too much lower, given that prices are already relatively low and a long planting season still awaits. USDA pegged corn planting Nation wide at 3%, traders on average were looking for 4% to 6%.

Soybean futures ended mixed, with nearby old-crop contracts climbing on fundamental and outside financial market support. Follow-through buying from Friday's supportive supply and demand report, an unexpected export sale to China and weakness in the U.S. dollar served as the catalyst to lift nearby contracts. Friday's USDA report was quite bullish versus expectations and with a fresh export sale of U.S. soybeans Monday confirming strong old-crop demand, front month futures were firmly underpinned. Bull spreading was featured once again as fear of tight old-crop ending stocks versus record new-crop acreage outlooks widened the differential between old-crop and new-crop futures.