South African maize futures ended decidedly lower on Wednesday‚ as the rand’s recovery against the dollar weighed on market sentiment.
The local currency strengthened to 8.3405 to the greenback in intraday trading‚ from 8.4443 previously.
The near-dated July white maize contract shed R33 to R1‚999 per ton‚ September white maize gave up R36 to R2‚034 per ton‚ and December white maize was off R36 to R2‚082 per ton‚ according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The near-dated July yellow maize contract was down R37 to R1‚970 per ton‚ the September yellow maize contract was down R31 to R2‚000 per ton‚ while the December yellow maize contract shaved off R32 to R2‚040 per ton.
The July wheat contract was down R57 to R2‚883 per ton‚ September wheat slid R54 to R2‚943 per ton and the December wheat contract shed R45 to R2‚910 per ton.
Meanwhile‚ US grain and soy futures traded higher across the board in electronic trading‚ fuelled by speculative short covering‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Firm cash prices‚ tight supplies and worries about warm‚ dry weather stressing crops in the US and abroad provided fundamental support for prices‚ analysts said. - I-Net Bridge