Pork contracts wobbled at the start as traders digested the remainder of Monday's losses while poking at opening lows in search for a market bottom. However, more buyers than sellers entered the mix because of February and April's oversold chart situations.

By the same token, softening packer demand for supplies, with Christmas a week away, at times stifled board-buying interest. Also, the session's light trading volume reflected trader uncertainty.

Meanwhile, a handful of traders followed an agricultural firm's July lean hog buy recommendation. And, a broker said, some in the pit "jumped the gun" ahead of the firm's suggestion to buy April lean hogs on Wednesday.

Midday direct cash hog prices were quoted down $0.18 to $0.78 per hundredweight with extended weakness expected for Wednesday.

Bullish market participants believe futures are due for more technical-driven advances after recent losses that dropped some months dangerously close to previous contract lows.