Soybean Futures Jump on Thursday

By CnAgri2012-10-22 19:55:46 Print

Soybean futures soared 2 percent on Thursday to post their biggest one-day advance in a month, notching gains for the third day in a row on strong cash basis markets, slow farmer selling and waning harvest of the country's 2012 crop.

Reuters reports that soybeans have gained more than 1 percent for the week and are on track to post the first weekly advance since early September as investors reversed course from 3-1/2-month lows set just a few days ago.

"The harvest is very much wrapping up and producers are closing the bin doors, they've stopped selling," said Jason Roose, a co-owner and market specialist for U.S. Commodities in Des Moines, Iowa. "This post-harvest rally will probably continue for the next two to three weeks, maybe gaining 40 to 60 cents from the lows we hit on Monday."

Roose said the rally would be capped by prospects for harvest in early 2013 of a record 81-million-tonne Brazilian soybean crop, a near 22 percent jump from this past season.

Soybeans also drew support from technical buying and bargain hunting as traders defended the key $15-per-bushel level, an area briefly penetrated earlier in the week.

Soy plunged to a 3-1/2-month low of $14.85-1/2 on Monday, down 17 percent, or $3 per bushel from the record high of nearly $18 per bushel set in early September.