Soyabean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell to 2-week lows early on Friday amid strength in the dollar and on follow-through pressure from Thursday's fund-related sell-off, traders said. At 10:09 am CDT (1509 GMT), soya was down 3/4 to 4-1/4 cents per bushel. May was down 4-1/4 at $6.15-1/2 per bushel. July was down 3 at $6.20-1/2. Fund selling led the way down, with CIS a noted seller of 300 July, pit sources said. Refco and Citigroup sold 200 July and commercial trader Bunge sold 100 July.
Exports were quiet overnight and a surge in the value of the dollar to 2005 highs on Friday led to renewed concerns about a bit of a dent in future sales of US soya abroad, traders said.
Soya also was weakened technically by the drop on Thursday. Fund selling tied to long-liquidation and profit-taking hit the market Thursday, as did crop-friendly rainfall this week in the heart of the US Midwest soyabean growing region.
Deliveries on the May contract totalled 133 lots. A Tenco customer was the main stopper, taking 84 lots, and registrations with the CBOT were unchanged at 1,377 lots.
Traders said the May contract should expire without fanfare at 12:01 pm CDT (1701 GMT) on Friday. The preliminary open interest in the contract has been drawn down to a relatively modest 735 lots, which should lead to a quiet expiration, they said. Cash basis bids for soyabeans in the Midwest were steady to firm and farmer selling was slow. Soyameal futures were down 40 cents to $1.20 per ton, with pressure stemming from the slide in soya and from follow-through technical selling after Thursday's lower close.
At 10:14 am CDT (1514 GMT), May was down 40 cents at $195 per ton. July was down $1.20 at $190.80. Prudential Securities sold 100 July, pit sources said. Soyaoil futures were 0.10 to 0.28 cent per lb. lower. May was down 0.21 cent at 22.42 cents per lb. July was down 0.28 at 22.49. Soyaoil was pressured by the slide in soya and from the weak close overnight for Malaysian palm oil futures.
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