LONDON (Commodity Online): Agricultural commodities with the exception of Cotton posted gains on Thursday, with grains buoyed by strong export prospects and additional support from the Fed announcement to keep interest rates low for longer-than-expected, said Barclays in a research note.
According to Barclays, Wheat prices continued to Lead the grains higher on Thursday. Front month CBOT wheat rose for the sixth straight session to a three-week high and settled at $6.54/bushel, buoyed by concerns that Russia may curtail grain exports.
A weaker dollar has made US wheat competitive in global import tenders. Indeed, latest weekly USDA export sales figures for US wheat were up 3% from the previous week and 59% from the prior four-week average, at 604.7Kt.
Front month CBOT Corn ended flat at $6.35/bushel, while the front month soybean contract climbed 9.25 cents higher to close at $12.23/bushel as uncertainty surrounding the South America crop provided underlying support.
Meanwhile, US corn exports continued to be strong at 958.1Kt. In contrast, weekly US export sales for soybeans came in at 466.3Kt, down 53% from the previous week and 21% from the prior four-week average.
Across the softs, ICE Cocoa was the strongest performer on the day, closing at a ten week high at $2452/t, as supply side concerns have underpinned prices, with the concerns of dry weather in West Africa and the slowdown of arrivals at Ivory Coast ports. Sugar and Coffee firmed 0.9% and 1.15%, respectively.
