CHICAGO, April 2 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures rebounded on Tuesday as traders reassessed the market after worries about cattle infected with avian influenza had triggered a sharp selloff a day earlier.
Government officials on Monday reported that a human was suspected to have contracted avian flu after contact with infected dairy cattle. The news sparked speculative selling that took live and feeder cattle futures to the lowest in two months.
Tuesday's bounce recovered only a portion of the prior day's losses.
"The cattle market found some footing after the washout. We certainly didn't get it all back but we at least didn't set a new low," said Matthew Wiegand, analyst with FuturesOne.
"A little bit of skepticism before further aggressive selling is warranted, especially since it doesn't look like we're going to lose a bunch of the herd or anything," he said.
CME June live cattle ended 1.050 cents higher at 176.375 cents per pound after dropping nearly 5 cents a day earlier. May feeder cattle closed 2.175 cents higher at 244.850 cents per pound after tumbling by more than 6 cents on Monday.
The volatile trade to start the week could delay cash cattle trading at Plains feedlot markets this week as packers may seek to secure livestock at lower prices amid poor margins.
The average beef packer margin on Tuesday was estimated at a negative $74.00 per head, down from a negative $65.85 a week ago, according to HedgersEdge.com.
Wholesale beef prices have also been trending lower after reaching multi-month peaks less than two weeks ago.
CME lean hog futures scaled new highs on Tuesday but ended mixed as traders banked profits following the recent rally.
June hogs ended 0.225 cent higher at 103.725 cents per pound, below the session high of 104.800 cents. (Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
