CME update: live cattle futures lose ground as exports appear weak

 Reuters reports that weekly beef exports looked weak on 27 November, adding pressure to livestock futures overall.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange February live cattle futures fell for the first time in the past five trading sessions, ending the day down 0.925 cent at 113.250 cents per pound.

CME January feeder cattle ended down 0.350 cents at 139.825 cents per pound.

"Anyone that was long probably decided to step aside and wait until Monday to go at it again, rather than put yourself in jeopardy of having (markets) open drastically against you," said Lon Malmkar, analyst at Futures One.

Beef export sales of 2,000 tonnes to China and 1,800 tonnes to Japan were more than offset by cancellations from Korea, Mexico, Hong Kong and others, to a net weekly sales of -15,500 tonnes of beef, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Weekly slaughter rates also fell to 564,000 head of cattle, down from 665,000 the week prior, in part due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, traders said.

For the week, February live cattle futures added 2.60 cents, its first weekly gain in three weeks.

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