Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures inched up on Wednesday on technical buying and as investors adjusted positions ahead of Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day holiday.
A drop in the dollar, which makes U.S. exports more competitive, also lent support to futures.
Chicago corn futures were unchanged, while wheat futures edged lower as a technical bounce from the previous session petered out in the face of improving crop prospects in major production zones worldwide.
CBOT soybeans Sv1rose5-1/4 cents to $9.88-3/4 a bushel and corn Cv1was unchanged at $4.28 per bushel.
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The most-active wheat contract Wv1settled down 9-1/2 cents at $5.48-1/2 per bushel.
U.S. commodities markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will re-open for an abbreviated session on Friday, ending at 12:05 p.m. CST.
“We’re in holiday mode, and there’s a lot of positioning going on,” Darin Fessler, analyst at Lakefront Futures, said.
Regular rain in Brazil and Argentina in recent weeks has boosted prospects for the next corn and soybean harvests and kept a ceiling on prices.
Rainfall in the Black Sea region has also eased drought concerns in the major wheat-growing area while a drier spell in western Europe this month has helped farmers catch up on sowing.
Expectations of large volumes in ongoing harvests in Australia and Argentina were also offsetting concerns that availability of Russian and Ukrainian wheat may soon subside.
Traders continued to assess the possible impact of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs against major trading partners when he takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump said on Monday he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico, as well as a new 10 per cent tariff on imports from China, raising the risk of retaliatory tariffs.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
