Corn Rallies, Gold Declines

Ivaylo
23 Feb, 2007
New York City

Corn futures hogged the limelight as they climbed to 10-year highs Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade as a combination of fund and technical buying pushed prices higher. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, high-grade copper futures rallied to their strongest levels since the first week of the year. Gold and silver ended lower after their rally on Wednesday. Palladium peaked but then but could not sustain the level.

[R]5:00AM Corn rallies to ten-year high Thursday, gold declines.[/R]
March corn settled 8.25 cents higher at $4.3450 per bushel, and May corn jumped 8.50 cents to $4.4750. Soybean futures climbed to new contract highs but pared gains amid late profit-taking. March soybeans closed up 2.50 cents at $7.8375, and May soybeans ended 2.50 cents higher at $8.0050. The March copper contract advanced 11.15 cents to settle at $2.7660 per pound. April gold declined $1 to $683 a troy ounce, while March silver also finished 2.3 cents lower at $14.25 an ounce. March palladium peaked at $351.80, its strongest level since Jan. 29, before ending up $6.55 at $350.70 an ounce. April platinum settled down $3.20 at $1,230 an ounce.

The front-month April crude oil contract closed up 88 cents at $60.95 a barrel. March heating oil settled up 4.34 cents at $1.7250 a gallon. March natural gas settled up 8.1 cents at $7.727 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures surged to two-week highs as shorts hurried to cover in a broad-based commodity surge. The March contract closed up 3.75 cents at $1.1890 a pound, with active May up 3.70 cents at $1.2015. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March gained 0.39 cent to settle at 11.10 cents a pound, with May up 0.29 cent at 10.68 cents.