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REUTERS & AGENCIES
LME copper, aluminium seen vulnerable: Copper and aluminium are seen trading sideways or testing the downside on Wednesday after failing to sustain advances on Tuesday, analysts said. Copper had support at $1,603 a tonne and then at $1,600,while aluminium faced further falls if it breached $1,295/$1,305.
Dalian soybeans mixed: Dalian soybean futures ended mixed on Wednesday, as nearby prices were hurt by concerns over position limits in the November contract, traders said. The Dalian Commodities Exchange said on Monday it would suspend the opening of new positions on the November contract until November 6. It ordered the unwinding of all short positions and 30 percent of long positions. The November contract was limit-down, falling 20 yuan to2, 784 yuan ($336) per tonne on tiny volume of 138 lots while the January 1999 contract shed 30 yuan to 2,135 yuan.
Turkey to sell wheat, barley, rye: Turkey will hold a tender on November 12 to sell unspecified amounts of feed barley, durumwheat, red and white milling wheat and rye from its stocks, Turkish grain board (TMO) said on Wednesday. TMO last held a tender on October 6 and sold 425,000 tonnes of red and 25,000 tonnes of white milling wheat, 130,000 tonnes of feed barley and 25,000 tonnes of red feed wheat and 10,000 tonnes of durum wheat. Its wheat stocks are believed to be over two million tonnes. TMO purchased around 5.2 million tonnes of wheat, 1.9million tonnes of barley and 470,000 tonnes of corn from farmers this year. It is trying to use up stocks in its nationwide silos, which have a total capacity of around 4.5 million tonnes.
Tokyo corn futures mixed: Tokyo corn futures ended mixed in directionless trade on Wednesday, as investors prepared for an official announcement of a US food aid package to Russia, traders said. "Chicago was relatively quiet yesterday and the dollar/yen rate was also rangebound. The only incentive today was details of the US package to Russia. This will remain a factor until the announcementlater this week," said a trader at a commodities brokerage. Prices ranged from down 20 to up 70 yen per tonne. Benchmark November gained 40 to 13,220 yen, while nearby January lost 20 to 12,840 yen. Estimated volume was 23,935 lots. A formal announcement of the Russia aid was expected later on Wednesday. Traders said prices could soften depending on the size of the package. By 0700 GMT, the December contract on the CBOT Project A trade system was at $2.16- unchanged from Tuesday's Chicago close.
Liffe white sugar firmer: White sugar futures ended higher on Tuesday, breaking through resistance at $224.00 a tonne as prices were boosted by a firmer New York market. The front month December contract was indicated at $225.00,up $3.80 by 1830 GMT. March ended at $228.00, up $4 on Monday. The close saw the December contract break through the resistance level as CSCE prices firmed in New York on brisk speculative fund buying. Volume was 5,938 lots, of which 4,306 were in December and 1,588 in March. Optionsactivity was nil on Tuesday.
Liffe grains down: Liffe wheat futures closed solidly lower Tuesday with the spot month down 75 pence at GBP80.40 a metric ton on profit-taking, said brokers. They said exporters were sellers because UK wheat is becoming increasingly uncompetitive against other European Union origins. But the market, nevertheless, found good support at the lower levels due to thin farm sales. New-crop contracts also ended lower, but well supported by rain delays to winter wheat showings. Brokers said the market saw strong volumes - 712 lots - in good two-way trade. They also noted market rumors that Italy has bought between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of UK wheat in recent days. But confirmation is lacking and some cash market traders were dismissive of the reports. Liffe barley futures closed without trade. Matif wheat futures at 1700 GMT are little changed, with the most heavily January position down FRF1 at FRF814 a ton. A total of 188 lots are traded so far. In early trade, CBOT wheatis down, burdened by a lack of news on the US food-aid deal with Russia.
Winnipeg grains, oilseeds end mixed: Grain and oilseed futures at the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange ended mixed Tuesday amid active trade, reported Canadian resource news. Canola was narrowly mixed as the firm tone in the Canadian dollar and losses in the Chicago soyoil market weighed on values, traders said. Prices, however, found support when early hedge selling faded, they added. Locals were said to be covering short positions. Eroding crush margins resulted in less crusher interest than seen recently, dealers noted. Canola options activity was thin. Flaxseed advanced in heavy trade, with commercial buying underpinning the gains, brokers stated. No flax options trade was reported. The feed grain market was mostly higher in moderate activity, reflecting gains in Chicago. Feed wheat futures were narrowly mixed as early hedge selling pressure prices downward, floor sources said. Traders, however added that several contracts werelifted at the close by good commercial buying. Buying was sparked by ideas feed wheat is a good value at current prices. Feed lot pricing of winter needs was said to have offset hedge selling in the western barley pit.
CBOT corn, wheat flat to slightly higher: Corn and wheat futures closed flat to slightly higher Tuesday at the Chicago Board of Trade with analysts saying that fund buying gave slight support to the market. "We had a lot of overhead resistance in corn," said Steve Koch, analyst with the Stewart-Peterson Group in West Bend, Wisconsin. "We got above technical support at $2.15 per bushel. It used to be resistance, now its support." He added that corn has little reason to stay on a bearish trend. There is a lack of terribly bearish fundamental information in corn for it to continue on a downtrend," Koch explained. He said that the market attempted a rally, but "ran out of gas" at the close. He added that the anticipation of the completion of a Russian food aid package gave some lightsupport to the wheat market. "The Russian rumors should keep the market from totally collapsing," said Koch.
Tocom rubber higher: Tokyo rubber futures closed mostly higher on Wednesday after paring early losses on short-covering, but traders said bearish sentiment remained intact. Prices ranged from 2.0 yen per kg higher to 0.4 yen lower. Benchmark April ended up 2.0 yen at 89.0 yen. "It was a correction to the market's continuous plunges over the past three trading days. Short-holders bought back the contracts to take profits," one brokerage analyst said. "With no positive factors in sight, an overall bearish trend remained intact," he said. The benchmark April contract is expected to test the 85 yen support in the near term depending on dollar/yen rates, he said.
Euro cotton prices unchanged: Cotlook, a Liverpool-based cotton information company, reported Tuesday has reported that the main feature of the raw cotton market continues to be the very competitive level of asking rates incirculation for Uzbekistan and other central Asian cottons. Mill enquiry from Belgium, in particular, has attracted aggressive offers from major international trading companies and similar cheap offers have also been noted in Germany and Italy. Most opinion at present seems to be that the downward movement of prices has not yet ended.
Oman cuts crude price: Oman has set its official crude price for October at $12.20 a barrel, down from $12.63 in September, an official at Oman's oil ministry said. Oman sets its crude price each month retroactively in line with spot market developments.
Nepal to buy diesel: State-owned Nepal Oil Co (NOC) has issued a tender to buy diesel for December delivery, a company official said on Wednesday. The tender seeks 30,000 tonnes of 0.5-percent sulphur diesel for delivery December 1-10 into any single or two ports combination of Madras/Haldia/Paradeep on the East coast of India, the official said. It closes on November 12, with offers valid until November 14.In its last diesel tender, NOC bought 30,000 tonnes of diesel for November 21-30 delivery from Shell at $120.42 or $120.89 per tonne for single or two Port delivery into East coast of India.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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