Chicago closing comments

CBOT soy futures soared out of the starting blocks Friday, with July soybeans and November soybeans leaping to 3 and 10 week highs respectively. The extension of the Argentine farmers' strike is seen increasing demand for tight projected old crop inventories, with new crop contracts buoyed by ideas of less acreage shifting to soybeans due to more favourable corn planting outlooks, analysts say. Beans finished well off session highs but still with gains of around 30c.

U.S. wheat futures backpedaled from earlier gains amid some light profit-taking, a grain analyst said. Good crop weather around the world and expectations for a record global crop in 2008-09 are weighing on the markets, he says. "There's nothing really bullish in the market," he says."The winter wheat crop seems to be improving here" in the U.S. hotter, drier weather forecast for the Plains should help advance development of HRW wheat and the warm-up isn't seen as threatening for now, the analyst says. Wheat closed around 4c higher, around 10c off session highs.

CBOT corn futures ended lower on the day amid profit-taking and clear weather forecasts, traders and analysts said. "I don't think people wanted to come in on Monday and see a wide-open weather forecast," said one trader, explaining the profit-taking. He added that crude oil, which had fueled a rally earlier in the day, broke from its high, helping to push corn lower. July corn finished 8 cents lower at $5.91 a bushel, closing below its 50-day moving average.