Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were firm early on Tuesday amid a technical bounce, but trading was quiet, traders said. "We're just in limbo now. It's really quiet all over the floor," a pit source said. At 10:09 am CST (1609 GMT), corn was up 1/4 to 1 cent per bushel, with March up 1/2 at $1.97-1/2 per bushel.

Locals were the main buyers. Refco Inc sold 200 March and FIMAT Futures sold 100 March.

Traders noted the corn market remained burdened by a large number of speculative short positions, leaving open the potential for short-covering bounces.

Copyright Reuters, 2005