Soybean prices edge down, yet firm for big weekly gain

U.S. SOYBEAN PRICES edged lower for the first time in four sessions on Friday, though the oilseed was on course to report its biggest weekly gain in more than five months on hopes that the United States and China would settle a trade war.

The most active soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up more than four percent for the week, the biggest weekly gain since May 2018.

Soybeans were down 0.2 percent at $8.80 a bushel after closing up 3.6 percent in the previous session, when prices hit their highest since Oct. 17 at $8.88 a bushel.

The most active corn futures are steady for the week, having closed almost unchanged in the previous week.

The most active wheat futures were up 0.5 percent for the week, after closing down 1.8 in the previous week. Soybeans were supported after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks aimed at resolving a trade war were “moving along nicely”.

Net corn export sales last week totalled less than 400,000 tonnes for the third straight week while net soybean sales totaled just 455,807 tonnes, compared with nearly 2 million tonnes in the same week last year, USDA data showed.

Net wheat export sales, however, topped trade expectations at 582,545 tonnes, including 50,000 tonnes to Egypt.

The euro got off to an unusually quiet start in Asia on Monday, having posted its worst weekly performance in three months, as investors await more developments and ratings downgrades from Europe.

Oil edged lower in volatile trading on Friday, posting a second consecutive weekly loss as caution about Europe’s debt crisis and yearend positioning continued to spark selling into rallies.

A rally in U.S. stocks fizzled, leaving major indexes with modest gains on Friday, as Wall Street was torn between hope that U.S. economic data signals better times ahead and fear Europe’s debt crisis will engulf world economies.