Buy stops were hit on the open near $5.40 in May and March and again late around $5.50, with the front two months climbing to $5.53-$5.54 per bushel.
There were also bullish technical moves stemming from the options pit as traders bought March call options at the $5.30, $5.40 and $5.50 strikes, exiting their positions before on Friday, the last trading day and expiration for March options.
As traders hedged their option positions in futures, the market kept escalating. The market saw a double-digit climb, with March closing 17 cents higher at $5.52 and may up 18-1/4 cents at $5.53.
The deferred were up 8 to 21-1/4 cents. "We're above the 100-day moving average in beans and meal. So the funds keep covering. The catalyst is the dryness in South America and the strength in the real," said Dan Cekander, an analyst with Fiat Futures.
The strength in the Brazilian currency cheapens the price of soyabeans, hedged against a dollar-denominated CBOT futures contract making it less attractive for South American farmers to sell beans, traders said.
Funds bought about 10,000-12,000 soyabean lots, 7,000-8,000 soyameal futures and 3,000 soyaoil contracts, traders said. Featured players included reface buying 4,000 May beans and Rand Financial buying 2,500 May.
Cargill Investor Services bought 1,000 March and 1,500 may soyameal. Weekly export sales were viewed neutral to bearish. The US Department of Agriculture reported on Thursday that last week's sales were 381,700 tonnes (379,000 tonnes for 2004/05 and 2,700 tonnes for 2005/06).
Traders expected a low figure, with estimates ranging from 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes due to the Asian Lunar New Year last week. But weekly old-crop sales of 379,000 tonnes were at a marketing-year low.
On the export front, there was lingering talk that China was seeking or bought up to eight cargoes of Brazilian beans and one US cargo this week. Taiwan on Thursday passed on a tender for 40,000 to 60,000 tonnes of either Brazilian soyabeans or US because the prices were "too high."
CIF soyabean values at the US Gulf were firm on Thursday amid fresh export interest, traders said. Soyameal futures closed $4.70 to $9.20 per ton higher on a fund short-covering rally.
March meal was up $8.60 at $171.50 a near five-month high. Meal gapped higher on the open and never retreated. US weekly export soyameal were somewhat supportive. USDA said last week's sales were 175,300 tonnes (old-crop and new-crop combined).
The 2004/05 tally of 173,500 tonnes was nearly four times higher than the previous week.
The soyaoil market was also higher on a recovery bounce from this week's sell-off linked to a big jump in US soyaoil stocks during January.
The rally in soyabeans was supportive. March soyaoil closed 0.26 cent higher at 19.82 per lb., with the back months up 0.13 to 0.23 cent. US weekly export sales were lower than expected.
USDA said last week's sales were at 4,400 tonnes below estimates for 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes. Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher overnight as short covering kept the market above the key psychological level of 1,300 ringgit, traders said.