Though Dalian corn futures volumes have picked up since mid-March price action has been slow indeed, keeping historical volatility low while forming a rounded bottom chart pattern. This hints that prices have found a new interim low and are set to pick up a little further. Momentum is bullish, as is the MACD histogram, plus the rolling front month contract is not overbought and therefore ought to be able to break above first Fibonacci retracement resistance at 1,672 yuan per tonne. This should then lead to a sudden burst up to the 50 per cent retracement level at 1,750-1,760 where some hesitation is likely. Later this summer we favour yet another notch up to second Fibonacci retracement resistance at 1,846.

Nicole Elliott is a technical analyst