PARIS/SYDNEY: US soybean and corn futures saw a modest bounce on Tuesday, after falling to their lowest levels in more than a week, as technical levels and supportive outside markets encouraged some buying.
Movements were restrained by a lack of fundamental newsflow and light volumes partly due to disruption in the United States as the giant storm Sandy kept US stock markets closed for a second day.
Chicago soybean futures hit a 10-day low on Monday as the they lost more than 2 percent in a biggest one-day fall in over a month, while corn struck a two-week low hit as it fell for the sixth straight session.
"We are seeing some correction from the losses yesterday," said Lynette Tan, an analysts at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"Yesterday commodities all fell, and the US dollar rose, and I think it has encouraged some bargain-hunting."
World share prices rose on Tuesday, with some investors reassured that US storm damage seemed less severe than feared, while Chicago grains got additional support from a weaker dollar driven by a rise in the yen.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans were up 0.4 percent at $15.33-1/2 a bushel by 1252 GMT.
December corn also rose 0.4 percent, to $7.40-1/4 a bushel, after hitting its lowest level since Oct. 15 on Monday before closing a touch lower in its sixth consecutive session of losses.
Traders said corn was holding chart support levels while soybeans kept just above a 10-day low seen on Monday.
Soybean prices have been dampened by expectations for a bumper South American harvest, and report of crop-friendly rain in Brazil contributed to Monday's losses.
After soaking Brazil's southern soy states of Rio Grande do Sul and Parana, storms are expected to move northward in early November into the country's main centre-west soy belt and northeast regions, which need moisture.
Brazil is set to overtake the United States as the world's top soybean grower this season after a drought-hit US harvest.
The Brazilian government has forecast that the country will produce 80 million to 82.8 million tonnes of soybeans in 2012/13, surpassing US output of 77.8 million.
The US government has projected Brazil's crop at 81 million tonnes.
But the picture is less promising in Argentina, where rain has been much heavier in recent weeks, threatening quality of wheat crops and slowing corn planting.
Heavy rainstorms hit Argentina's already soaked farm belt on Sunday and are expected to continue until midweek, a local climatologist said on Monday.
Wheat markets were also higher, tracking the trend in corn and soybeans, but with US and European prices still holding in consolidation ranges.
"In U.S wheat, we're still in a marginally bearish trend as we consolidate," a European trader said. "Like in Paris, we're in a consolidation range and we're struggling to break out for want of fresh news."
CBOT December wheat climbed 0.7 percent to $8.64-1/4 a bushel, while in Europe benchmark January milling wheat was up 0.3 percent at 265.00 euros a tonne.
European prices were continuing to draw some support from healthy export activity as Black Sea countries faded from export markets, and with some rain delays to sowing in part of western Europe, traders said.
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