PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans slid for a second session on Friday as a firm dollar encouraged consolidation below this week's six-month high while traders assessed the extent of rain damage to crops in Argentina.
Wheat inched down as the dollar's strength and a tender by Egypt underlined tough export conditions for US supplies. Corn also edged lower.
The most active Chicago Board Of Trade soybean contract was down 0.8 percent at $10.62 a bushel by 1305 GMT but still on course for a weekly gain.
CBOT wheat dipped by 0.1 percent to $4.23-1/4 a bushel while corn also ticked 0.1 percent lower to $3.66.
In Argentina, torrential rain in soybean belts has unnerved investors, though drier conditions this week have made traders cautious about predicting losses.
The Rosario grains exchange on Thursday cut its forecast for the 2016-17 soybean crop to 52.9 million tonnes from 54.4 million tonnes previously because of bad weather.
The Buenos Aires grains exchange, meanwhile, trimmed its soybean planting estimate by 100,000 hectares to 19.2 million hectares (47.4 million acres) and warned of the potential for further losses.
"The Buenos Aires grains exchange said more than half of that area could be lost, depending on how the weather pans out over the next few weeks," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"Affected regions are expected to dry down over the coming days."
The prospect of a jump in US soybean planting also curbed prices.
US producers are poised to plant 90.52 million acres of soybeans later this year, topping the record set in 2016 by about 7 million acres, a Farm Futures survey indicated.
The dollar held its gains on Friday as investors braced for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
A stronger dollar makes US agricultural products uncompetitive in the world market, giving advantage to rival exporters in South America and the Black Sea region.
Bids reported by traders in a wheat tender being held by Egypt on Friday confirmed the dominance of Black Sea origins, with no US wheat offers.
Weekly US export sales figures later on Friday will also give an indication of overseas demand.
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