Markets

CBOT soybeans end higher on S.American crop worries

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* Soymeal followed soybeans higher, but soyoil ended lower on profit-taking and meal/oil spreading.

* Front-month March soybeans reached a five-month high at $12.80 a bushel, the highest spot soybean price since Sept. 23, 2011, but pared gains by the close. Soybeans have finished higher in eight of the last nine sessions.

* Argentina's Rosario grains exchange cut its estimate of the country's soy harvest to 44.5 million tonnes, down 5 million from its last monthly estimate, citing drought damage.

* Weak dollar adds support, making dollar-backed soybeans more competitive. The dollar fell to a 10-week low against the euro as better-than-expected German data offset a dismal economic forecast from the European Commission.

* USDA at its annual outlook forum projected US 2012 soybean plantings at 75 million acres, unchanged from 2011 but up 1 million tonnes from the agency's baseline projections earlier this month.

* The nine-day RSI for CBOT March soybeans rose to 77, from 76 ahead of the open, moving farther into the technically overbought range of 70 to 100.

Copyright Reuters, 2012