CHICAGO, July 28 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures closed lower on Wednesday on technical selling and spreading, even as wholesale pork prices firmed, traders said.
CME August lean hog futures settled down 1.775 cents at 105.700 cents per pound, retreating a day after reaching 108.125 cents, its highest since June 18.
The most-active October hog contract ended down its 3-cent limit at 89.525 cents, slipping back below its 50-day moving average for the first time since July 20. Daily limits in lean hogs will widen to 4.5 cents for Thursday's trading session.
"Buying (the) August (contract), selling October was a feature that really came to overwhelm the October contract, and triggered some technical selling when support levels gave way," said Dennis Smith, a commodity broker for Archer Financial Services in Chicago.
The sell-off, which accelerated in the last half-hour of the trading session, came despite rising pork prices and expectations of tightening hog supplies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture quoted the wholesale pork carcass cutout up $1.48 at $124.97 per cwt on Wednesday afternoon, the highest since June 14. Prices for hams and pork bellies were especially strong, at or near multi-year highs, Smith said.
In the cattle market, live cattle futures closed mostly higher in subdued trade while feeder cattle futures drifted lower, pausing after contract highs set earlier this week.
Benchmark CME October live cattle futures ended up 0.100 cent on Wednesday at 128.525 cents per pound but stayed inside of Tuesday's trading range. CME September feeder cattle settled down 0.550 cent at 163.450 cents per pound.
Traders await the USDA's weekly export sales report due Thursday, which will detail export sales of U.S. pork and beef in the week ended July 22.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Richard Chang)
