Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were lower early on Wednesday amid fund selling and reports from a crop tour in the Midwest of solid soya yield prospects this year, traders said.
"That's from the Pro Farmer tour," a trader said, referring to the yield data being released this week which was viewed as bearish for soyabean futures.
At 10:08 am CDT (1508 GMT), CBOT soya was down 1/4 to 2 cents per bushel. September was down 1-3/4 at $6.09 per bushel. New-crop November was down 1-1/2 at $6.19.
Refco Inc and Citigroup each sold 300 November and Cargill Investor Services sold 400 November, pit sources said.
Traders continued to monitor soya yield reports from this year's annual crop tour of the Midwest.
Crop scouts on the John Deere Pro farmer tour overnight said that eastern Midwest state Indiana's soyabean crop appears average but there was a lot of inconsistency between fields. Scouts in the western Midwest state of Nebraska said soya pod counts were slightly off from a year ago but up from the tour's three-year average.
Drought this year in top producer Illinois had been boosting soya futures while generally satisfactory weather in other states, including the other top producer, Iowa, continued to counter the bullish impact of the harsh conditions in the east.
Meteorlogix weather early Wednesday said there was a chance of showers in the western Midwest later this week and mostly dry weather was expected over the weekend. A few showers may surface in the south-west portion of the eastern Midwest on Thursday through Saturday and it should be dry on Sunday. There were no indications of extreme crop-damaging temperatures.
Technical support in the new-crop November contract at $6.18-1/4 per bushel was broken, driving the contract to a session low of $6.13. Resistance was at $6.24. November on Tuesday closed above its 200-day moving average of $6.16-1/2 per bushel, an area that is now viewed as key support.
The nine-day relative strength index for November closed Tuesday at 33, just above the benchmark 30 level that technical traders consider an oversold mark. Soyameal was 10 cents per ton lower to 90 cents higher with soyameal buffeted by choppy dealings in soya. September was up 10 at $190.10 per ton.
Soyaoil was 0.03 to 0.10 cent per lb lower, pressured by an early sag in soya. September was down 0.07 at 22.49 cents per lb.