Soybeans slip from 4-year peak, subdued USDA harvest report caps losses
10.11.2020 (financialpost.com) - SYDNEY — U.S. soybean futures edged down on Tuesday as traders banked profits after prices hit a four-year high in the previous session, although losses were held in check by a U.S. harvest report that came in behind market expectations.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most active soybean futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were down 0.1% at $11.09-1/2 a bushel by 0224 GMT, after firming 0.8% on Monday when prices hit a four-year peak of $11.18 a bushel.
* The most active corn futures were down 0.1% at $4.07 a bushel, after gaining 0.2% in the previous session.
* The most active wheat futures were down 0.5% at$5.94-1/2 a bushel, after closing down 0.7% on Monday.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a weekly report released after the market closed on Monday, said the U.S. soybean crop was 92% harvested and corn was 91% harvested, compared with expectations for 94% and 91%, respectively.
* The agency rated 45% of the nation’s winter wheat crop as good or excellent, compared with expectations for 44%.
* The USDA, in a daily reporting system for export sales, said on Monday that exporters sold 123,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations.
MARKET NEWS
* The yen scraped back some losses against the U.S. dollar, after the safe currency took a drubbing on news of the development of a coronavirus vaccine which raised optimism of a global economic recovery.
* Oil prices dropped as concerns over fuel demand in the near term in coronavirus-hit Europe and the United States returned to haunt the market after an overnight surge on progress towards a COVID-19 vaccine.
* Asian share markets mostly shot higher, driven by regional airline, tourism and travel stocks as global investors applauded progress in the development of a coronavirus vaccine which lifted confidence in a world economic recovery.
(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Rashmi Aich)