Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed mixed Friday and well below session highs after the market ran into pre-weekend profit-taking, analysts said.

 

November soybeans closed up 1/2 cent at US$10.06 a bushel, up 28 1/2 cents on the week. The nearby contract hit a session high of US$10.28 in electronic trading before trimming gains.

 

"I think it was just end-of-week profit-taking," said Mario Balletto, an analyst for Citigroup.

 

Weather continues to look supportive for soybeans and for corn, as forecasts call for rain to extend the already delayed U.S. harvest season, traders said. Private forecaster T-Storm Weather said a powerful storm system next week would likely prevent substantial harvesting from taking place until November.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is due to issue an update on the harvest at 4 p.m. EDT Monday in its weekly crop progress report. As of Sunday, the soy harvest was 30% complete, up seven percentage points from a week earlier but down from the average of 72%.

 

Soybeans should be less than 45% harvested in the USDA's upcoming progress report, according to a note from MF Global. Persistent rains have prevented significant drying.

 

"The forecast says harvesting is going to be limited through at least next week," Balletto said. "People are still going to be scrambling to cover requirements."

 

Strength in the U.S. dollar and weakness in crude oil may have "taken some institutional-type money" out of the market during the session, he said. Losses in the dollar and gains in crude oil supported rallies in the grains and soybeans earlier this week.  

 

 

Soy Products  

 

Soy products closed mixed, as funds bought soymeal and sold soyoil. December soymeal ended up US$2.50 at US$303.30 a short tonne, and December soyoil closed down 36 points at 37.94 cents a pound.

 

Commodity funds were sellers of an estimated 1,000 contracts of soyoil and buyers of an estimated 1,000 contracts of soymeal. Soyoil felt additional pressure from weakness in crude oil, traders said. Soymeal was seen to be following soybeans, they said.