Soyabean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up sharply early Thursday with the bellwether May contract surging nearly 2.7 percent amid a fresh wave of buying by investment funds, traders said. "It's all funds, they bought the open and there was another buying spree after about 20 minutes," a pit source said.
At 10:46 am CST (1646 GMT), soya was up 7 to 17 cents per bushel. May was up 17 at $6.58 per bushel.
R.J. O'Brien bought 500 May, FIMAT Futures and Man Financial each bought 200 May, traders said.
Outside factors, including a downturn in the US dollar and strength in the Reuters CRB Commodities Index, were amid the driving forces in the soya complex futures. The CRB index was at 315.05 as of 10:50 am (1650 GMT), up about 1.30 percent.
The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) March plantings and quarterly stocks reports released early on Thursday provided a mixed bag of data, including a bullish quarterly stocks figure and a bearish plantings number.
The May soya contract was supported by the stocks number and had gained roughly 2 cents on the new-crop November because of the bull-spreading, traders said.
US soya stocks on March 1 totalled 1.381 billion, below an average of analysts' estimates for 1.425 billion.
However, USDA said US soya plantings this year would total 73.910 million acres, above an average of analysts' estimates for 73.368 million.
CBOT soyameal futures were up $5.70 to $7.00 per ton. May was up $5.70 at $197.70 per ton.
Fund buying and spillover support from surging soya boosted soyameal futures.
USDA reported US soyameal exports last week at 195,100 tonnes, above estimates for 75,000 to 125,000 tonnes.
CBOT soyaoil futures were up 0.25 to 0.49 cent per lb. May up 0.42 at 23.90 cents per lb.