CHICAGO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures turned higher on Tuesday as analysts said they expected seasonally stronger cash prices.
Traders also said forecasts of colder, wetter weather in the Plains gave support to cattle futures.
A significant winter storm is pummeling a wide swath of the central United States, unleashing heavy snow, strong winds and ice storm warnings, according to the National Weather Service.
From the Plains and south to Kansas and eastern Colorado, warmer mid-level temperatures are resulting in rain, which later freezes and turns into ice.
Such weather is "stressing livestock in western and central sections of Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as southeastern Wyoming, northeastern Colorado, and northwestern Kansas, due to snow and blowing snow," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a weather report on Tuesday.
CME live cattle February contract settled up 1.875 cents, at 170.400 cents per pound. CME's most-active March feeder cattle ended the day up 0.175 cent, at 224.575 cents per pound.
The cash cattle trade on Friday was mostly up, with trades in the Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas markets trading at $171, up $1 from the prior week; and trades in Nebraska and Iowa at $170 to $172, up $2 to $4 from a week earlier, analysts said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) priced choice cuts of beef at $292.45 per hundredweight (cwt) on Tuesday morning, down 48 cents from Friday, while select cuts were priced down 45 cents, at $260.70 per cwt.
Meanwhile, CME lean hogs turned lower, after a U.S. government report on Friday afternoon showed a larger-than-expected domestic herd, analysts said.
The USDA, in a quarterly report issued after trading ended on Friday, said the inventory of all hogs and pigs on Dec. 1 was larger than traders had expected.
CME's most-active February lean hogs settled down 2.050 cents, at 69.30 cents per pound. (Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Pooja Desai)
