NEW YORK - Oil prices settled mixed on Sunday as traders digested major oil producers’ decision on output. The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery lost 24 cents to settle at 66.26 US dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery increased 21 cents to close at 69.88 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, on Thursday pledged to stick to the current plan to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day next month. The alliance also said in a statement that “the meeting shall remain in session pending further developments of the pandemic and continue to monitor the market closely and make immediate adjustments if required.”
US agricultural
futures close mixed
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Friday, with corn and soybean rising and wheat dropping. The most active corn contract for March delivery rose 7.25 cents, or 1.26 percent, to settle at 5.84 US dollars per bushel. March wheat fell 11.25 cents, or 1.38 percent, to settle at 8.0375 dollars per bushel. January soybean gained 23 cents, or 1.85 percent, to settle at 12.6725 dollars per bushel. While wheat sagged on the fading hope that US hard red winter (HRW) wheat would be included in the Saudi tender, the tone of CBOT was bullish for corn and soybeans on southern Brazilian and Argentine weather worry. Chicago-based research company AgResource doubted that any break in March wheat could be sustained much below 8.20 dollars.
Corn and soybean futures would be closely following South American weather, with March corn closing above 5.90 dollars turning all chart-based price trends up. March soybeans target 13.00 dollars with ongoing dry weather for southern Brazil into mid-December, the company noted.