Meanwhile, lean hogs closed lower and bellies ended unchanged to weak.

Live cattle waffled at the start as participants weighed last week's bearish fundamentals against front-months' oversold Relative Strength Index conditions. Board movement was glacial-like because several traders were away from the pit because of the Columbus Day holiday.

Last Friday's mostly $92 per hundredweight fed cattle trade was not only $3 to $4 below the prior week's sales, but dumped a huge number of animals onto this week's showlists.

And although the federal government's midday boxed beef quotes came in narrowly mixed on Monday, they showed only modest improvement compared with Friday's lower quotes.

Another restrictive factor for spot-October is the threat of pending deliveries against the contract that is slated for expiration on Oct. 31. Monday was the first notice day for live cattle deliveries.

Nevertheless, there were sentiments that Friday's sell-off factored in possible cash weakness. Also, front months inched upward as shorts claimed profits and speculative bulls were drawn to October and December's oversold chart conditions.

Source: FXSTREET