(Reuters) – U.S. soybean, corn and wheat futures climbed 1 percent or more on Monday, extending gains from late last week as the dollar weakened and investors covered short positions.
Dry weather in Russia and southern U.S. Plains growing areas also underpinned wheat prices while corn futures climbed above several key moving averages, lending technical support. But prices pared gains late after the higher futures triggered light selling by U.S. farmers, analysts and brokers said.
“With the dollar lower again, the main feature is follow-through fund buying from Friday,” said Terry Reilly, analyst at brokerage Futures International in Chicago. “Gold and crude oil are turning around, adding to the bullish situation in corn.”
Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans finished 8-3/4 cents higher at $9.83-1/2 per bushel while CBOT corn was up 5-1/4 cents at $3.90-1/4, Each contract touched the highest levels in more than a week, with corn capping its largest two-day gains since late in November.
CBOT May wheat gained 4-1/2 cents to $5.34, with the contract rising to the highest levels in a month and forming a ‘gap’ on the chart between Friday’s high of $5.30-1/2 and Monday’s low of $5.31-3/4.
Investment funds bought 8,000 corn contracts, 6,000 soybean contracts and 3,000 wheat contracts, trade sources said.
“The weather is not all that favorable for wheat crops as we have seen limited rainfall in Russia, and U.S. winter wheat is also suffering from dry weather,” said Kaname Gokon, general manager of research at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
U.S. wheat plants have faced a lack of moisture plus severe cold spells this winter, despite some showers in recent days.
The Plains revert to a drier pattern for the next 10 days, with only patchy relief from a few showers in the 11-to-15-day outlook, the Commodity Weather Group said.
Russia’s 2015 grain crop may fall short of official forecasts as the condition of winter grains in some key growing regions has deteriorated since last year, the managing director of a large Russian agricultural group said.
Investment funds had built up short positions in wheat, corn and soybeans at the beginning of the month as export demand for U.S. supplies waned and the dollar rose to its highest in more than a decade. “Short-term oriented market participants may have facilitated the price surge by covering shorts,” Commerzbank said in a note.
