US soyabean futures ended higher, shrugging off concerns about the crisis in earthquake-ravaged Japan and focusing on soggy weather in key soyabean crop areas of Brazil, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade May soyabeans last traded up 19-1/4 cents at $12.89-1/4 per bushel.
The situation in Japan, devastated by last week's earthquake and tsunami, remained tenuous as Europe's energy chief warned that the crippled nuclear site north of Tokyo was "effectively out of control." Traders said grain companies took the opportunity of the lower prices to buy, in a possible signal that demand from importing countries had picked up after corn and soyabean futures closed down their daily trading limits on Tuesday.
Given lower prices, "it makes sense from an end-user standpoint to be a buyer," said Tim Emslie, an analyst at Country Hedging. "But if the stock market in Japan sold off again last night, we wouldn't be doing this," he added.
New-crop December corn, however, posted its biggest percentage gain since mid February before easing but remaining firmly on positive ground. The buying in December corn was done outright, not on spreads, said Mary Ann Kwiatkowski, of Amber Trading. Meanwhile, the July/December corn spread has narrowed to a seven-week low near 80 cents, down from $1.33-1/2 on March 1. Soybeans were up 1.91 percent, or 24-3/4 cents, at $12.94-3/4.
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