Tuesday 25 September 2012

GRAINS-Soy rebounds from 6-week low; wheat, corn extend losses

Tue Sep 25, 2012
* U.S. soybeans rise 0.5 pct on end-user buying

* Wheat, corn futures fall for 2nd day

* U.S. farmers on record harvest pace despite rain

* Rains to aid Brazil's soybean planting
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures bounced back on Tuesday on demand from end-users, recouping some of last session's losses that drove down prices to a six-week low, while pressure from a record pace of U.S. harvest capped gains.

Corn edged lower, falling for a second straight day, while wheat lost more ground on forecasts for rain this week in the U.S. Plains which will aid winter crop planting.

U.S. farmers maintained their record pace of harvesting corn and soybeans during the past week although they were not running combines flat out due to some rainy weather.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said corn harvest was 39 percent complete as of Sept. 23, up from 26 percent a week earlier. The soybean harvest rose to 22 percent complete from 10 percent.

Analysts had been expecting the corn harvest to be 41 percent finished and the soybean harvest 20 percent, according to the average of estimates in a Reuters survey of 14 crop watchers.

"People look at any dip in prices as an opportunity to buy and for investors it is an opportunity to go long," said Abah Ofon, an analyst at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. "I don't see the market treading lower and lower, I think there is some more upside potential as supplies are very tight."

The USDA earlier this month forecast soybean ending stocks next summer to be the lowest in nine years and the stocks-to-use ratio at the lowest in nearly five decades.

Chicago Board of Trade November soy rose 0.5 percent to $16.17-1/2 a bushel by 0308 GMT, after touching a low of $15.90-1/4 a bushel on Monday, its weakest since Aug. 14.

December corn lost 0.3 percent to $7.42-3/4 a bushel and December wheat slid 0.2 percent to $8.90-1/4 a bushel.

Soybeans has dropped 8 percent in the last three weeks on profit-taking and investment portfolio balancing after the market set an all-time high of $17.94-3/4 a bushel.

Analysts expect the USDA to raise its estimate of the soybean yield in its next crop update on Oct. 11, based on stories of better-than-expected output so far in the harvest.

The market has also been pricing in estimates of bumper production in South America early next year as high prices encourage farmers to boost planting.

Light showers fell over Brazil's grain belt over the weekend and are likely to continue throughout the week as farmers sow what could be a record soybean crop, local forecaster Somar Meteorologia said.

The first rain in months late last week spurred farmers to start planting what the USDA sees as an all-time high crop of 81 million tonnes.

The wheat market, which has been buoyed in recent weeks by talk of Russia curbing exports, is being weighed down by forecasts of rains in the U.S. Plains, where farmers are planting the winter crop.

In its weekly crop progress report on Monday, the USDA said farmers finished planting a quarter of the winter wheat crop as of Sunday, compared with 11 percent a week ago.

 Prices at  0308 GMT
  Contract        Last    Change  Pct chg  Two-day chg MA 30   RSI
  CBOT wheat     890.25    -1.75  -0.20%    -0.78%     890.26   58
  CBOT corn      742.75    -2.00  -0.27%    -0.74%     788.42   32
  CBOT soy      1617.50     7.50  +0.47%    -0.26%    1696.86   33
  CBOT rice      $15.16   -$0.03  -0.16%    -0.52%     $15.32   58
  WTI crude      $92.31    $0.38  +0.41%    -0.62%     $95.45   35
  Currencies                                               
  Euro/dlr       $1.294   $0.001  +0.10%    -0.28%
  USD/AUD         1.044    0.002  +0.21%    -0.16%
  Most active contracts
  Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
  RSI 14, exponential

(Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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