Late selling by local traders trimmed the gains in soya that had been posted. Firm cash markets buoyed the active nearby March contract yet rallies continue to be hampered by abundant stocks of oilseeds globally, traders and analysts said.
"They were on both sides today with a pretty good cash demand and slow selling helping out March," a pit source said. Soya opened lower on Monday and some deferred months dropped to new lows amid good rains in South American soya areas.
However, the market already had been under a lot of pressure amid forecasts for the showers, leaving open the potential for a short-covering bounce. There was nothing in the export market over the weekend to stimulate any bullish enthusiasm.
The export arena featured news South Korean and Taiwanese importers were seeking soyameal, soyabean and corn this week ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, traders in Seoul said.
However, Japan was expected to keep a relatively low profile, they said. The Lunar New Year celebration begins February 7. Some Asian countries take off a couple of days and others will celebrate the entire week.
USDA's export inspection report on Monday showed US soya inspected for export last week at 26.8 million bushels. That's slightly below the range of estimates for 27.0 million to 32.0 million bushels.
On Friday's Commitments of Traders report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed large speculators slightly trimmed their heavy net short position in soyabean futures in the week ended January 25.
They were long 27,221 lots, down 234, and short 99,935, down 1,834 from the week before.
Active March soyameal closed 30 cents per ton lower at $153.80 per ton. Other months were unchanged to $2.00 per ton lower.
On Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed large speculators slightly cut their heavy net short stance in CBOT soyameal futures in the week ended January 25. Funds were long 9,151 lots, up 1,902, and short 41,560, up 1,559 from the previous week.
Short covering boosted soyaoil futures to a firm close. March soyaoil closed 0.12 cent per lb higher, at 19.36 cents per lb. Deferred months were 0.15 cent higher to 0.02 lower.
On Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed large speculators cut their heavy net short position in CBOT soyaoil futures in the week ended January 25. Funds were long 22,403 futures, up 1,391, and short 50,841, down 2,155.