Recasts; updates prices, adds quotes, previous PARIS/BEIJING
CHICAGO, Dec 17 (Reuters) – U.S. soybean futures closed higher on Friday, hitting a 2-1/2 month top on worries about South American crop weather coupled with chart-based buying, traders said.
Corn futures set a four-month high near $6 a bushel and wheat followed the firm trend.
Chicago Board of Trade January soybeans SF2 settled up 8 cents at $12.85-1/4 a bushel after reaching $12.97-1/2, the highest since Sept. 30. Technical buying was noted as the contract pushed above its 100-day moving average near $12.77.
CBOT March corn CH2 ended up 2 cents at $5.93-1/4 a bushel, paring gains after reaching $5.98-3/4, the contract’s highest since Aug. 12. March wheat WH2 climbed 4-1/2 cents to settle at $7.75 a bushel.
Soybeans and corn rose on uncertainty about South American crop prospects given dry conditions in southern Brazil and portions of Argentina.
“Soybeans were the leader in today’s session as fresh buying interest surfaced … This was sparked by a few different factors, with building concerns over the dry conditions in South America leading the way,” Karl Setzer, analyst with AgriVisor, wrote in a note.
Argentina’s weather outlook poses a “big challenge” for soybean and corn production, with lower-than-normal rainfall expected during the region’s summer, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said this week.
In Brazil, rains were forecast for northern soy areas over the next two weeks while dryness should persist in southern areas, meteorologists said.
Corn and wheat futures got a lift from news of China seeking feed grains on the world market. Chinese importers booked French wheat and barley this week following a slide in prices, European traders said.
CBOT wheat firmed on Friday but fell 1.3% for the week, its third weekly decline since the benchmark contract Wv1 set a nine-year high last month. Wheat futures have cooled as worries over the Omicron coronavirus variant and easing concerns about global wheat supply have encouraged selling.
However, high winds this week added to concern about some U.S. winter wheat zones already experiencing dry and unseasonably warm weather.
“The winds are precisely the kind of event that poorly established crops are vulnerable to until snow cover arrives,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in a note.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Emily Chow in Beijing; editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Rashmi Aich, Amy Caren Daniel and Sonya Hepinstall)
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