Wheat futures rise most this month
Monday, 21 December 2009
CHICAGO, Dec 20 (Bloomberg): Wheat futures rose the most this month as speculative investors bet that the steepest decline in three weeks was overdone.
The price plunged 3.5 per cent Friday, the most since November 24, bringing this month's decline to 12 per cent.
"We did some damage to the wheat charts with the down move yesterday," said Tom Leffler, the owner of Leffler Commodities LLC in Augusta, Kansas. "It's more of a technical situation than anything newsworthy. Anybody who's been around a while knows this is what happens this time of year. If they had some good moves, it's going to correct."
Wheat futures for March delivery rose 9.5 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $5.28 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract fell 1.8 per cent for the week, marking the fourth-straight weekly decline. The price gain today was the largest since November 30.
Some fund managers are expected to realign their investments after Jan. 1 and put more money into agriculture commodities, Leffler said. Investors may be trying to position themselves ahead of that move, he said.
Buyers also may have purchased on speculation that the dollar will fall after the first of the year, increasing demand for US stockpiles, Larry Young, a senior analyst at Infinity Futures Inc in Chicago. The greenback, which jumped 1.5 per cent this week, still is down 4.4 per cent this year against a basket of six major currencies.
The price plunged 3.5 per cent Friday, the most since November 24, bringing this month's decline to 12 per cent.
"We did some damage to the wheat charts with the down move yesterday," said Tom Leffler, the owner of Leffler Commodities LLC in Augusta, Kansas. "It's more of a technical situation than anything newsworthy. Anybody who's been around a while knows this is what happens this time of year. If they had some good moves, it's going to correct."
Wheat futures for March delivery rose 9.5 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $5.28 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract fell 1.8 per cent for the week, marking the fourth-straight weekly decline. The price gain today was the largest since November 30.
Some fund managers are expected to realign their investments after Jan. 1 and put more money into agriculture commodities, Leffler said. Investors may be trying to position themselves ahead of that move, he said.
Buyers also may have purchased on speculation that the dollar will fall after the first of the year, increasing demand for US stockpiles, Larry Young, a senior analyst at Infinity Futures Inc in Chicago. The greenback, which jumped 1.5 per cent this week, still is down 4.4 per cent this year against a basket of six major currencies.