Chicago | Reuters— Chicago soybeans faced an extremely volatile day of trading on Thursday, touching a new two-month peak before ending lower, amid questions over export demand and late-season drought impacts on U.S. crop yields, traders said.
Wheat futures fell as lackluster weekly export sales weighed on prices and traders adjusted positions ahead of two key government reports, market analysts said.
And corn futures fell on lackluster weekly export numbers despite news of a second reported flash sales of U.S. corn to Mexico, market analysts said.
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There were good gains for the Chicago soy complex during the week ended Feb. 4, due to positive news that Wednesday.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) settled down 12-1/4 cents at $10.41 per bushel. Earlier, it reached $10.64-3/4 a bushel, surpassing a previous two-month high from earlier this week.
CBOT wheat ended down 5 cents at $5.84-1/4 a bushel, while Dec corn fell 2 cents to $4.13-1/4 a bushel.
Traders said they are looking ahead to Monday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual small grains summary and quarterly grain stocks reports.
While news of Chinese stimulus measures lent support to soybean prices early in the session, traders could not shake off the bearish sentiment that has been hanging over the soy market in recent months, traders said.
“It’s not clear what that all means to the grains market in the short term,” said Angie Setzer, partner of Consus Ag Consulting.
Meanwhile, positioning by speculators ahead of the end of the month and quarter end also put a cap on grain and oilseed market interest for much of the session, brokers said.
Drought has held up the start of the soybean planting campaign in Brazil, though traders say rainfall next month may allow field work to get going in time.
Winter wheat sowing rates in Russia, meanwhile, have fallen to an 11-year low due to drought in key producing regions, the Sovecon consultancy said on Wednesday.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
