By Theopolis Waters
CHICAGO, March 23 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished higher for a fifth straight session on Monday, fueled by last week’s better-than-expected cash prices, traders said.
Packers paid $163 to $165 per hundredweight (cwt) for market-ready or cash cattle in the U.S. Plains on Friday, up from $161 to $162.50 the previous week, feedlot sources said.
Friday’s mildly bullish U.S. Department of Agriculture Cattle-On-Feed report for February provided more support to futures.
April and June live cattle surpassed their 100-day moving averages of 158.82 and 150.96 cents per pound, which triggered fund buying.
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“We’ve got bullish chart indicators, but I’m not too excited about the longer-term fundamentals,” said Allendale Inc. chief strategist Rich Nelson, citing more cattle possibly coming to market during the summer.
Profit-taking and uncertainty about this week’s cash prices, given fading packer margins and lackluster wholesale beef demand, periodically slowed futures advances.
Monday morning’s Choice wholesale beef price climbed $1.10 per cwt. from Friday to $245.61. Select cuts dropped 45 cents to $242.83, the USDA said.
April closed up by the 3.000-cents per lb. price limit at 161.350 cents. June ended 2.525 cents higher at 153.000 cents.
Futures’ limit will be expanded to 4.500 cents on Tuesday after April’s limit-up settlement today.
USDA issued the monthly cold storage report today at 2 p.m. CDT, It included total February beef and pork inventories.
A few analysts estimated last month’s total beef stocks on average at 495.2 mln lb., and pork stocks at 637 mln lb.
CME feeder cattle rose with active live cattle futures buying and with cash feeder cattle rising as much as $5 per cwt.
March closed 2.100 cents per lb. higher at 216.975 cents, and April was up 2.975 cents at 219.175 cents.
HOGS END FIRMER
Bargain hunting and short covering lifted CME lean hogs from session lows, traders said.
April closed 0.800 cent per lb. higher at 59.250 cents, and May was 0.400 cent higher at 68.675 cents.
Some investors bought futures in anticipation of a cash price turnaround as some shoppers switch from costly beef to competitively priced pork, a trader said.
On Monday morning, cash hogs in the Midwest sold mostly steady to down 50 cents per cwt, dealers said.
The morning’s wholesale pork price gained 59 cents per cwt from Friday to $68.62, according to USDA.
