Corn falls off five-week high as dollar recovers

Corn futures fell in American trade away from March 14 highs as the dollar index rebounded from March 27 lows, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest corn producer and exporter. 

As of 07:58 GMT, corn futures due on May 15 fell 0.45% to $3.8925 from the opening of $3.910, while the dollar index rose 0.09% to 89.51 from the opening of 89.42. 

Earlier US data showed housing starts rose 1.9% to an annualized 1.319 million units in March, compared to a 3.3% drop in February to 1.295 million, while analysts expected a 2.5% rise to 1.267 million. 

Building permits rose 2.5% to 1.354 million units, compared to a 4.1% fall in February to 1.321 million, while analysts expected no change at 1.321 million, as industrial output slowed down to 0.5% from 1.1% in February, beating forecasts of a 0.3% rise. 

The Capacity Utilization Rate inched down to 78% from 78.1 in February, also beating forecasts of 77.9%, while Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams spoke earlier today about monetary policy at a global symposium co-hosted by the National Association for Business Economics and Bank of Spain, in Madrid.

Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles testified on supervision and regulation before the House Financial Services Committee, in Washington DC.

The US Department of Agriculture reported that 3% of corn has been cultivated so far until last Sunday, up just 1% from last week, while the average of the same period in 2017 at 5%. 

The USDA reported total inspected corn product in marketing year starting last September until the week ending April 12 at 28 million tonnes, down from 35.9 million tonnes in the same period of the previous marketing year.