Corn hits seven-month peak as dollar dips

Corn futures rose nearly one percent in American trade to the highest since July 25, as the dollar index gave up ground, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest corn producer and exporter. 

As of 08:55 GMT, corn futures due on May 15 rose 0.73% to $3.7725 from the opening of $3.7450, while the dollar index shed 0.04% to 88.85 from the opening of 89.88. 

Earlier US data showed new home sales fell 7.8% in January to an annualized 593 thousand units, compared to a 7.6% drop in December to 643 thousand, revised from a 9.3% decline, while analysts expected a 3.5% rise to 647 thousand units. 

Tomorrow, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to testify on the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report before the House Financial Services Committee, in Washington DC.

The US Department of Agriculture's report on grains outlook released last week included projections of 90.0 million acres of farmed corn land in 2018, down 200 thousand acres from 2017, while the harvest is expected to reach 82.7 million. 

The USDA expects corn output to fall by 1.5% next year to 14.32 billion bushels, which would be down 5% from record 2016 highs at 15.148 billion. 

The USDA recently expected global corn inventories to fall before the harvest season in North American by 9.7%, the first yearly decline since 2011, amid dry weather in Argentina and the US, and heavy rains in Brazil.