CHICAGO, March 15 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures climbed to near two-week highs on Friday in a technical rally, sparked by firming cash hog and pork prices, traders said.
Several deferred contracts posted new lifetime highs, and June futures, the second most active month, came within two ticks of its life-of-contract high.
Actively traded April hogs jumped 1.900 cents to 86.925 cents per pound, after holding technical support at its 10-day moving average and breaking through chart resistance at its 20-day average.
Firmer cash hog prices and rising whole pork values helped lift the market through some of the technical barriers.
On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) quoted the cash port cutout value up 22 cents at $93.47 per cwt, less the $1 from a five-month high posted at the beginning of March.
"The cash and cutout trade was solid this morning and that helped pull things forward. We are below the recent high (in futures) but we're at a spot where it rejected the move lower and that allowed us to bounce back," said Matthew Wiegand, broker with FuturesOne.
"Now the challenge will be if there is enough follow-through strength to take us to new highs," he said.
CME live cattle futures also ended higher on Friday, rebounding from a sharp selloff the prior day and supported by a firmer tone to the cash cattle market at feedlots in the U.S. Plains.
The USDA confirmed light sales of southern Plains cattle at prices steady to higher than last week.
Beef prices continued a recent advance, with choice cuts up $1.12 per cwt on Friday afternoon at $311.90 per cwt, the highest since early September.
Benchmark April live cattle rose 0.300 cent to 187.250 cents per pound. April feeder cattle gained 0.950 cent to 252.125 cents per pound.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
