CHICAGO: Chicago soyabean futures slipped on Friday with the market closely watching for updates on US-China trade talks, and traders less than impressed with a jump in recent soyabean export sales between the two countries.

Wheat and corn prices rose on global supply and weather questions on a light trading session scheduled to end early a day after the US Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Concerns over US-China trade tensions resurfaced after China rebuked President Donald Trump’s decision to ratify a bill backing protesters in Hong Kong. China said on Thursday it would take “firm counter measures” if the United States continues to interfere in Hong Kong.

The heightened tension quelled any market buzz from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) weekly export sales on Friday, which reported the biggest volume of soyabean exports sold to China in three weeks.

Private exporters sold nearly 1.7 million tonnes of soyabeans during the week ending Nov. 21. The weekly US soyabean export sales were above analysts’ estimates for 600,000 to 1.2 million tonnes. The USDA reported that China bought 831,200 tonnes last week, including 466,000 tonnes switched from unknown destinations.

The most active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabean contract was down 0.26% at $8.79-3/4 a bushel at 1426 GMT.

Another drag on the agricultural commodity markets right now is waning investor interest in the sector, said Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst for AgriVisor.

Corn futures prices inched up, bolstered by heavy snowfall forecasts in the northwest US corn belt in the coming days, and farmers expected to face very slow progress in harvesting an estimated 8 million remaining acres of crop.

The most active CBOT corn contract was up 0.8% at $3.67-1/4 a bushel.

The most active Chicago wheat futures contract rose 1.85% to $5.36-1/2 a bushel, underpinned by a reduction in estimates for output in top exporter Russia.—Reuters