Meanwhile, most live cattle contracts ended in negative trading territory.Feeders closed weak.

Hog futures chopped around throughout most of the morning as the undercurrent of China's potential of buying U.S. pork churned beneath the market.

And, while bullish traders were motivated by the possibly that China could again show interest in U.S. pork, longs were equally as concerned about ominous U.S. hog slaughter rates.

Break-buying and uptick-selling initially confined hog futures within a narrow trading space. Also, formidable technical resistance kept a lid on spot-October while December vibrated between key chart support and resistance levels.

Cash and pork cutouts played menial roles during the session. Instead, bulls and bears concentrated on balancing their books before the holiday and during the final day of August trading.

That, however, will not be the case on Tuesday when market participants gauge packer needs for what is expected to be a post-holiday weekend slaughter possibly in the 200,000-head neighborhood.