Ag Market Manages Quiet Finish

CHICAGO - Jun 2/06 - SNS -- International agricultural commodity markets finished the week's trading on a relatively quiet note, though India remains a demand factor in wheat markets and Iran and Iraq continue negotiating with Asian rice exporters for more supply.

Agriculture markets continue to be strongly influenced by outside markets, reflecting increased use of ethanol and bio-diesel around the world. While that demand factor remains strong and is helped by a summer spike in gasoline prices, agricultural markets are more sensitive to events in other primary commodities because of greater participation by non-traditional traders and funds.

Yesterday's sharp sell-off in gold generated fear of a fund-led sell-off in grain markets yesterday morning. That pushed futures markets lower early in the day. However, the lack of follow through selling allowed markets to come back until they triggered technical fund buying.

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