Grains Futures Mixed

Wheat futures prices rebounded Thursday but corn and soybeans fell under pressure from the resurgent U.S. dollar.

“Nobody really believed that Wednesday’s drop in the dollar signaled a true turnaround,” said Sue Hackmann, an analyst with Pershing Futures in Chicago.

Hackmann said the U.S. dollar remains the major external influence in the trading pits. The dollar, the target of intervention by major foreign banks on Wednesday, renewed its assault on most foreign currencies. A stronger dollar tends to discourage the export of U.S. produce.

The only corn contract to finish higher was March. Hackmann said that was the result of lower-than-expected delivery notices against that contract.

Analysts could not explain wheat’s advance except to say that the prices have been battered in recent sessions and were poised for a correction.

“Wheat has been trading in low ground the past eight or nine sessions,” said Walter Spilka, an analyst with Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co. in New York. “The uptick was nothing more than a rebound. I don’t see anything there fundamentally. There’s little export interest.”