(Reuters) – U.S. soybeans fell for the second straight session on Friday, but was on course to record its biggest weekly gain in two months on strong export demand.
FUNDAMENTALS
Chicago Board Of Trade March soybeans up 2.5 percent for the week, the biggest rise in eight weeks.
March corn down 1.2 percent for the week, the third weekly slide in the last month.
March wheat up 0.7 percent for the week, the first weekly climb in seven weeks.
Egypt’s GASC, the world’s top buyer of wheat, said it bought 295,000 tonnes of wheat for shipment in February, including 60,000 tonnes of U.S. soft red winter wheat.
Export sales of corn were a better-than-expected 821,000 tonnes, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning.
USDA also confirmed 169,800 tonnes of net sales cancellations by China in the latest week, adding to a recent string of cancellations stemming from the discovery of an unapproved strain of genetically modified corn.
Soybean export sales were 701,500 tonnes in the latest reporting week, up from a marketing year low 155,500 tonnes a week ago.
Private exporters reported the sale of 465,500 tonnes of U.S soybeans to China, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday.
MARKET NEWS
The U.S. dollar faded a little on Friday after two days of gains, as a run of mixed U.S. economic data left the market uncertain about its future direction.
Crude oil futures ended slightly lower in thin trade on Thursday as expectations of more supply from the Middle East and North Africa weighed against news of lower oil output from OPEC.
The Dow and S&P 500 slipped on Thursday, with the S&P retreating from the previous session’s record high, after earnings from Goldman Sachs and other banks disappointed investors.
