Also, pork bellies settled higher, while live and feeder cattle posted moderate losses.

Short covering, Thursday's pork cutout gains and further cash hog price advances boosted lean hogs at the start. Pork contracts gained added upward momentum on buy stops and fund involvement after July overcame key technical resistance obstacles.

Also, speculative longs defended back-month hog positions despite Chicago Board of Trade corn values that toiled in bearish territory overnight and throughout the morning.

Nevertheless at one point, spot-June and nearby-April slipped noticeably from earlier tops on selling into upswings driven in part by concern about board premiums to the CME hog barometer. However, both contracts recovered with the help of more short covering and additional cash strength.