Corn hits two-week high as dollar falls off 1-1/5 year high

Corn futures rose over one percent in American trade to December 20 highs as the dollar index fell off June 2017 highs for the ninth session out of 15, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest corn producer and exporter. 

As of 07:58 GMT, corn futures due in March rose 1.06% to $3.7975, marking two-week highs, while the dollar index shed 0.51% to 96.23 off 1-1/5 year highs. 

Earlier US data showed the private sector added a stellar 271 thousand new jobs in December, beating estimates of 179 thousand, and compared to November's 157K, revised from 179K. 

US unemployment claims rose 10 thousand in the week ending December 29 to 231 thousand, while continuing claims in the week ending December 22 rose 32K to 1.740 million. 

The US ISM manufacturing PMI tumbled to 54.1 in December from 59.3, missing estimates of 57.7, while ISM manufacturing prices fell as well sharply to 54.9 from 60.7, missing expectations of 57.9. 

A US partial government shutdown is in its second week as President Donald Trump and the Democratic Party fail to reach a compromise on funding for the border wall with Mexico. 

The US Department of Agriculture reported inspections of 913.8 thousand tonnes of corn product destined export in the week ending December 27, compared to 996.8 tonnes in the previous week, and 726.5 thousand tonnes in the same period of 2017, with total inspected product reaching 17.9 million tonnes, up from 10.6 million in the same period of last year.