(Reuters) – U.S. soybeans edged higher on Wednesday, with buyers attracted after prices fell nearly 3 percent in the previous session on an improving outlook for Argentina’s crop.
FUNDAMENTALS
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans rose 0.18 percent to $12.82-3/4 a bushel, having dropped 2.7 percent on Tuesday in their biggest daily slide in almost a year.
March corn climbed 0.35 percent to $4.26-1/2 a bushel, after gaining 0.24 percent the session before.
March wheat rose 0.4 percent to $5.64-1/2 a bushel, having closed down 0.31 percent on Tuesday.
Ample rains expected in Argentina’s agricultural belt over the days ahead should help farmers preserve yields that had been threatened by recent weeks of extreme dry and hot weather.
Expectations that some U.S. soybean purchases by China will be switched to South American soybeans also weighed on futures.
Chinese wheat importers are seeking cargoes for April shipment, trade sources said, as the world’s top consumer aims to take advantage of global prices trading around three-and-half-year lows.
MARKET NEWS
The yen was on the back foot early on Wednesday with investors unwilling to take aggressive bets ahead of the outcome of a Bank of Japan policy meeting.
Oil prices clung to modest gains on Tuesday after a swift rally fuelled by a bullish demand forecast and new concerns over Libyan oil exports succumbed to profit-taking.
U.S. stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 snapping a two-session decline as the materials sector rallied, though the Dow fell on disappointing earnings by three of its components.
