SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures slid for a fourth consecutive session on Monday with prices dipping to a two-week low on expectations of rains in Brazil's dry oilseed growing areas.

Corn and wheat lost ground.

 

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.5% to $13.34 a bushel as of 0115 GMT, after dropping to the lowest since Nov. 3 at $13.27 a bushel earlier in the session.

* Corn slid 0.3% to $4.65-1/2 a bushel and wheat gave up 0.4% to $5.73-3/4 a bushel.

* Forecasts of rains in Brazil this week have eased concerns over dry weather slowing crop planting in the world's top exporting nation. Prices have pulled back after reaching the highest since August last week.

* Showers this week will briefly ease stress from heat and dryness in the northern 40% of Brazil's soybean area, Commodity Weather Group said. Northern Brazil is then expected to dry out again, the firm said.

* Extreme dryness is forcing farmers to give up on soybeans to plant cotton or another crop in Brazil's top farm state Mato Grosso, cotton lobby groups and growers said.

* In France, winter grain sowings had made little progress and crop ratings fell last week, farm office FranceAgriMer data showed on Friday in a sign that heavy rainfall took a toll on crops in the European Union's biggest grain grower.

* French farmers had sown 71% of the expected soft wheat area for next year's harvest by Nov. 13, compared with 67% a week earlier and 96% by the same time last year, the office said in a crop report.

* Some 151 ships have used Ukraine's new Black Sea shipping corridor since it was set up in August, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday, citing a senior government official.

* Speculators ramped up their enthusiasm for Chicago soybeans and soymeal as crop concerns for Brazil and a tight U.S. meal market have been raiding the headlines.

* In the week ended Nov. 14, money managers extended their net long in CBOT soybean futures and options to an 11-week high of 87,913 contracts from 68,598 a week earlier, predominantly on new gross longs.

 

MARKET NEWS

* Japanese shares climbed to highs not seen since 1990 on Monday as strong earnings and offshore demand fuelled a three-week winning streak, while other Asian markets were more mixed with eyes fixed on the U.S. rate outlook.

 

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0115 China Loan Prime Rate 1Y Nov 0115 China Loan Prime Rate 5Y Nov (Reporting by Naveen Thukral Editing by Chris Reese)