Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts

Sunday 3 October 2010

Huge sell-off in agriculture as speculators run

October 2, 2010

Fear of high corn stockpiles and uncertainties in the outlook for sugar and cotton sparked a massive sell-off in agricultural markets on Friday, overshadowing the rally in energy and metals.

US corn futures tumbled the 30-cent trading limit in near record volume to end down 6 per cent for the session and 10 per cent for the week in an extended reaction to Thursday's government crop report showing hefty inventories of the grain.

Soybeans fell 4 per cent on the day and wheat over 3 per cent.

Raw sugar closed down half a per cent, adding to the previous session's drop of almost 6 per cent. Analysts said investors were worried the sweetener's near 50 per cent gain during the third quarter had outpaced demand.

The liquidation marked a sharp reversal in trend for agricultural markets, which were among the biggest gainers in commodities during the just-ended quarter.

"I'm sure that the market had outstripped its fundamentals," Keith Brown, a cotton broker in Moultrie, Georgia, said after US cotton futures plunged about 4 per cent from 15-year highs. "(Speculators) carried us up ... now, they are feeding upon themselves like piranha trying to get out faster than the next guy."

The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index settled down almost half per cent after rising as much earlier in the session, following a 2 per cent rally in oil and copper and a new record high in gold. The CRB rose nearly 11 per cent in the third quarter, its biggest gain in five quarters, with sugar being the index's star performer.

The about-face in agriculture after the strong third quarter made some grains traders wonder if they were looking at the start of a prolonged lean period for prices. But some, like those in the sugar trade, expected a quick rebound.

"With oil so strong and the dollar weakening further, it would seem sugar will hold rather than continue the collapse, and we would expect the support to hold," said Thomas Kujawa of Sucden Financial Sugar, who predicted the sweetener would hold at above 22.50 cents a lb. New York's key raw sugar contract closed at 23.36 cents per lb.

Corn posted its biggest one-day drop since January 12, when the government released another bearish report on stockpiles of the grain. Chicago's key corn contract for December finished at $US4.65-3/4 a bushel, falling the 30 cent that also contributed to its biggest weekly loss since mid-January.

Crude oil's benchmark front-month contract in New York rose almost 2 per cent to settle above $US81 a barrel, a level not seen since August 10, as a sliding dollar caused investors to hedge in oil and metals.

Gold hit record highs for a sixth successive session, scaling above $US1320 per ounce.

Copper rose 2 per cent to scale two-year highs in both London and New York after China's latest manufacturing data showed an important engine of global growth was humming again after sputtering in the second quarter.

Reuters

http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/huge-selloff-in-agriculture-as-speculators-run-20101002-161g3.html

Monday 27 April 2009

Swine flu: the UK shares affected

Swine flu: the UK shares affected

The outbreak of swine flu, which has killed more than 100 people in Mexico and spread to the US, Canada and New Zealand, has hit UK shares linked to travel and agriculture, and give a boost to pharmaceuticals companies. Some of the biggest companies affected are listed below.

By Amy Wilson
Last Updated: 10:26AM BST 27 Apr 2009
GlaxoSmithKline
Shire
British Airways
Easyjet
Thomas Cook Group
TUI Travel
Carnival
InterContinental Hotels Group
Cranswick
Genus


Pharmaceuticals

GlaxoSmithKline: its shares rose as much as 44p, or 4.4pc to 1,050p. Glaxo makes a flu drug called Relenza, which could be bought up by governments seeking to treat and halt the spread of swine flu. Relenza has been shown to work against viral samples of the disease.

Roche: The shares rose in Swiss trading. Roche's Tamiflu drug can reduce the symptoms of swine flu and said it has an ample supply of the drug as the outbreak spread outside Mexico.

Shire: the drugs company’s shares rose in sympathy with Glaxo's.

Airlines:

British Airways: The airline has been hit along with others in the sector, on fear the swine flu outbreak will reduce demand for travel.

easyJet: The low-cost airline fell.

Ryanair: the Irish budget airline was also under pressure.

Travel companies:

Thomas Cook: The holiday company fell on concern the spread of swine fever will curb foreign travel. Mexico has been a popular destination for holidaymakers trying to avoid countries using the euro while it remains so strong against the pound.

TUI Travel: The Thomson holiday group also declined.

Carnival: the cruise operator, whose Caribben cruises take in Mexico, dropped.

Intercontinental: Shares in the hotel operator also fell.

Agriculture:

Cranswick: The food firm, which has just bought a Norfolk-based supplier of pork for Tesco and a number of other major retailers, fell on concern shoppers will avoid pork products as a result of swine flu.

Genus: The pig breeding specialist declined.