South African maize futures ended firmer on Monday, boosted by the weaker rand/US dollar exchange rate.
The local currency fell to 8.20 to the greenback intraday, from 8.09 on Friday.
The near-dated May 2012 white maize contract gained R37 to R2,062 per ton, July 2012 white maize lifted R45 to R2,047 per ton, and September 2012 white maize was up R40 to R2,067 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The near-dated May 2012 yellow maize contract was up R37 to R1,989 per ton, the July 2012 yellow maize contract rose R42 to R2,008 per ton and the September 2012 yellow maize contract climbed R34 to R2,029 per ton.
The May wheat contract edged up R19 to R2,720 per ton, July wheat was up R19 to R2,764 per ton, while the September 2012 wheat contract rose R16 to R2,821 per ton.
Meanwhile, US soybean futures fell on Friday, dropping more than 3% to a six-week low, as investors liquidated positions in riskier assets amid global economic worries, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Soybeans for July delivery closed down 3.4% to US$14.06 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade.
It was a risk-off trading environment, with investors motivated to sell on concerns about eurozone debt, slowing China economic data and worries about US banks after JP Morgan reported $2 billion in trading losses Thursday.
In other markets, corn and wheat futures slumped in unison with soybeans, with broader based investors' risk-off selling weighing on prices.
Corn futures losses were also fuelled by larger supply estimates from government forecasters last week. - I-Net Bridge