* Wholesale beef prices set new record
    * CME feeder cattle finish mostly lower
    * Lower cash prices pressure hog futures

    By Theopolis Waters
    CHICAGO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live
cattle futures gained modestly on Friday and finished
with their sixth straight weekly gain, boosted as wholesale beef
prices stayed at record highs, traders and analysts said.
    Friday morning's wholesale choice beef price was $231.75 per
hundredweight (cwt) in light sales volume, climbing $2.96 from
Thursday to its seventh consecutive record, according to U.S.
Department of Agriculture data. 
    The $3.44 jump in price to $228.95 for select cuts was their
	

		

			
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11th straight record.
    "It's unprecedented," R.J. O'Brien floor manager Jim Brooks
said regarding the beef cutout's record pace. "I can't help but
to think beef prices are going to cool and cash prices should
set back some."
    This week, cash cattle in the U.S. Plains fetched up to $144
per cwt, surpassing last week's record price of $140, feedlot
sources said.
    He pointed out that cash cattle prices typically peak around
mid January, which could prompt some traders to sell the
February contract and buy deferred months.
    Consolidation before the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
on Monday made for a choppy day of trading on Friday. The CME
will be closed on Monday in observance of the holiday.
    Investors are monitoring forecasts for another wave of
frigid temperatures over the next several days that could slow
down cattle weight gains.
    Last week's arctic blast disrupted livestock production in
the Midwest, which contributed to record-high cattle and
wholesale beef prices.
    February live cattle closed 0.200 cents per lb
higher at 140.350 cent, and April finished at 139.300
cents, up 0.075 cent.
    The January CME feeder cattle futures closed at
170.000 cents per lb up 0.200 cents, supported by its discount
	

		

			
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to the exchange's feeder cattle index at 171.32 cents. 
    Profit taking pressured remaining feeder cattle contracts.  
    March finished at 167.925 cents per lb, down 0.325
cent, and April settled 0.625 cent per lb lower at
168.650 cents.
   
    CASH PRICES WEAKENS HOG FUTURES    
    Profit taking led by lower cash prices undercut CME hog
futures, traders and analysts said.
    The afternoon's average price of hogs in the closely-watched
Iowa/Minnesota market was $2.09 per cwt lower from Thursday at
$76.51, according to USDA.
    Investors sold February futures and bought back months with
the view that hog prices might suffer in areas where packing
plants will be closed for Monday's holiday, a trader said.
    Another bout of winter weather could briefly slow the flow
of hogs to market. That comes as packers are sorting through
supplies that had been delayed by last week's storm.  
    This week, packers are on track to process 2.263 million
hogs, 188,000 more than last week and up 57,000 from a year ago,
based on USDA estimates.  
    February hogs closed at 86.175 cents per lb, 0.700
cent lower, and April ended at 91.900 cents, down 0.350
cent.

 (Editing by David Gregorio)