Grains edged higher Thursday, with soyabeans heading for a sixth straight daily gain, as investors covered short positions ahead of the holidays and anticipated a resumption of stressful crop weather in Argentina next week. Corn and soyabeans got further support from higher-than-forecast weekly net export sales reported by the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday of 952,900 and 728,400 tonnes respectively.
Grains were underpinned by slight weakness in the dollar and strength in crude oil and equities, as investors took comfort in data showing new US jobless claims hit a 3-1/2 year low. "There's a calming going on in Europe, nothing too dramatic today (so) attention has shifted back to the weather," said Bill Nelson. "And the weather has some pros and cons in it. I can see the (bullish or bearish) case both ways."
The main soya areas of Brazil and Argentina have not gotten enough rain in recent days to fully relieve fields that are baking under the southern hemisphere's summer sun, experts said Thursday. There has been no rain to speak of in Brazil's key south and centre-west farming zones over the past three days. And the showers that have fallen in Argentina's soya belt have been too scattered and inconsistent to help parched plants.
Argentina is the world's No 2 corn and No 3 soya exporter. In Brazil, farmers in the largest soya producing state, Mato Grosso, are days away from beginning the harvest of record corn and soya crops, while tenacious dry weather elsewhere threatens to hurt yields.
Chicago Board of Trade January soyabeans rose 3-3/4 cents or 0.3 percent to $11.57-1/2 a bushel by 9:50 am CST (1550 GMT), touching a one-month high and adding to what would be their longest streak of gains in more than five months. March corn gained 3/4 cent or 0.1 percent at $6.17-1/4 a bushel, touching a five-week high.
CBOT wheat for March delivery edged up 1-1/2 cents or 0.2 percent to $6.18-1/2 a bushel, touching its highest price in nearly three weeks. Volumes have thinned sharply this week ahead of the holidays, leaving markets open for choppy trading, especially if the dollar or crude oil change course, Nelson said.
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