Soybeans drop to 1-1/2-week low on improved Argentine weather

Article content

SINGAPORE — Chicago soybean futures slid for a fourth consecutive session on Monday to their lowest in more than one week, as expectations of rains in Argentina’s parched growing areas eased concerns over supplies.

Corn fell to a one-week low, while wheat slid after closing higher on Friday.

Article content

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gave up 0.7% to $14.96-1/2 a bushel, as of 0135 GMT, after hitting its lowest since Jan. 12 at $14.96 a bushel earlier in the session.

Article content

* Corn fell 0.7% to $6.71-1/4 a bushel, the weakest since Jan. 17 and wheat dropped 0.7% to $7.36 a bushel.

* The spotlight is on South American crop weather given the drought in Argentina, the world’s largest supplier of soymeal and soyoil.

* A storm front should bring moderate to abundant rainfall across most of Argentina’s key agricultural area this week, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday, which could help farmers plant their fields after a historic drought.

* Brazil, meanwhile, is on track to produce a record soy crop, which may hasten a seasonal shift in export demand away from U.S. supplies.

* Corn futures pared losses and traded higher at times after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported sales of U.S. old-crop corn in the week to Jan. 12 at 1.1 million tonnes, above a range of trade expectations and the biggest weekly tally since mid-November.

Article content

* Weekly sales of old-crop U.S. wheat also topped expectations at 473,100 tonnes, lifting CBOT wheat futures.

* Large speculators raised their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Jan. 17, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.

MARKET NEWS

* Global equity indexes rose sharply on Friday, with Wall Street rallying after a jump in Netflix and Alphabet shares, while the U.S. dollar had its biggest daily percentage gain against the yen in about two weeks as the Bank of Japan governor repeated the central bank will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 1500 EU Consumer Confidence Flash Jan (Reporting by Naveen Thukral)