SYDNEY, May 24: US soybeans fell for the first time in seven sessions on Friday, but are on course to post their biggest two-week gain since August 2012 as tight old-crop stocks, exacerbated by a port strike in Argentina, support prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Chicago Board Of Trade July soybeans fell 0.32 percent to $14.32-3/4 a bushel, having firmed 0.35 percent on Thursday.
* Soybeans are on course to finish the week up more than 3 percent, following on from gains in previous week of 3.56 percent. Two-week gains are the largest since August 31 when the oilseed firmed more than 7 percent.
* July corn fell 0.34 percent to $6.59-3/4 a bushel, having gained 0.53 percent in the previous session.
* Corn is poised to finish the week up 1 percent, the second straight weekly rise.
* July wheat rose 0.25 percent to $7.05 a bushel, having closed up 2.1 percent on Wednesday.
* Wheat is on course to finish the week up 3.1 percent, recouping all the losses from the previous week.
* The grain complex drew support from stronger-than-expected export sales in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) weekly export sales report on Thursday.
* The USDA report showed net export sales of U.S. Wheat last week at nearly a million tonnes, well above analysts’ estimates.
* Soybean futures continued a recent uptrend as a port strike in major exporter Argentina intensified the focus on the tight short-term supply of the oilseed.
* The strike, and lengthy vessel backups at other South American ports, raised concerns that some global demand could shift to the United States where supplies were forecast to shrink to a nine-year low before the autumn harvest.
* Argentine port workers ended a four-day-old strike on Thursday, their labor union said, setting the stage for resumption of crucial soy and corn exports.
* Rainfall over the next week to 10 days in parts of the Midwest will delay remaining corn seedings and possibly cause a shift from corn to soybean acreage, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar was on track for its biggest daily drop in more than five weeks against the yen on Thursday after a sharp slide in Japanese stocks and weak Chinese factory activity data prompted a rush for the safe-haven Japanese currency.
* Brent crude oil prices retraced earlier losses after falling to a three-week low on Thursday in a broader commodities selloff, riding the coattails of a late turnaround in U.S. Equities to end flat.
* U.S. Stocks slipped on Thursday but finished sharply off their session lows as a rally in Hewlett-Packard’s shares offset worries about weak Chinese manufacturing data and the prospects of the Federal Reserve reducing its monetary stimulus.
(AGENCIES)
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