Corn hits eight-month peak as dollar dips to two-week low

Corn futures rose in American trade to July 21 highs, as the dollar index hit February 20 lows, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest corn producer and exporter, while markets price in weather risks on global crops, especially in Argentina. 

As of 08:38 GMT, corn futures due on May 15 rose 0.26% to 3.8825 from the opening of $3.8725, while the dollar index fell 0.50% to 89.63 from the opening of 90.08. 

Earlier US data showed factory orders fell 1.4%, compared to a 1.8% rise, revised from 1.7% in December, missing expectations of a 0.4% dip, while Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is due to deliver a speech titled "Economic and Monetary Policy Outlook" at New York University's Money Marketeers event.

The US Department of Agriculture's weekly report on inspections showed that 947.64 thousand tonnes of corn have been inspected in the week ending March 1, down 29% from the previous week's 1.32 million tonnes. 

The current levels are also considerably down from the 1.45 million tonnes in the same period of 2017, with total inspected corn in the marketing year so far amounting to 18.9 million tonnes, down from 27.4 million in the same period of the last marketing year.