LIVESTOCK-CME live cattle futures rise on boxed beef strength

By Renee Hickman

CHICAGO, March 25 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Tuesday on strength in wholesale values, according to analysts.

Meanwhile, feeder cattle futures were lower and lean hog futures rose, as they bounced back and forth within a tight trading range.

The cattle market was still under pressure from a poor technical performance on Friday, said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities. Analysts said Monday's selloff would likely have continued without that development.

"But then the noon beef came out and it was sharply higher," Roose said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported choice cuts of boxed beef were up $8.09 to $335.19 per hundredweight (cwt). Select cuts were up $0.47 at $314.05 per cwt.

Live cattle futures had been in a slump since a technical reversal on Friday, according to analysts, falling back after multiple days of rallies.

Beef packer margins were in the red on Tuesday, with meatpackers losing $155.30 per head of cattle, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com.

CME June live cattle LCM25 ended up 0.175 cent at 202.325 cents per pound.

CME April feeder cattle FCJ25 settled down 0.400 cent at 284.850 cents per pound.

CME's April lean hog contract LHJ25 rose 0.950 cent to finish at 86.65 cents per pound.

Roose said lean hog futures have been caught in a narrow trading range for weeks with news pushing them back and forth.

But he said, the market is nearing a big ham demand season as Easter approaches.

Supplies should be plentiful, with the U.S. hog herd expected to be about 1.2% bigger as of March 1 than a year earlier, a Reuters survey of analysts showed on Monday, ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. The report is due to be released on Thursday.