January soyabeans closed 4 cents higher at $5.58-1/4 per bushel, recovering from their 10-cent dip in e-cbot trade overnight. The deferred months settled 1 to 3-1/2 cents higher.
China's Dalliance soyabean futures were also weak overnight, with some months dropping by their 4 percent daily limit amid bird flu fears. "We were on a hard break it was a fairly impressive technical bounce after the way China traded overnight.
But I think it was all about the domestic cash market," said Don Rose, analyst with US Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa. US cash soyabean markets remain firm due to little cash movement.
Basis levels have firmed since the end of harvest, but that has failed to entice much farmer sales, making it difficult for the end user.
Processors are trying to replace their crush needs and there was fresh interest in US soyabeans by China on Monday, but no sale was confirmed, traders said.
However, the market was pressured by follow-through technical selling from Friday when the market hit a nine-month low. A lagging US export pace and worries about global feed demand due to the spread of bird flu continue to cast a bearish tone to the market.
The weekly export inspections reported by the US Agriculture Department on Monday did little to change the bearish sentiment. USDA said 21.8 million bushels of soyabeans were inspected for export last week, compared with estimates for 23 million to 35 million bushels.
US soyabean exports lag a year ago by nearly 84 million bushels. Top global soya buyer China took the most, 8.825 million bushels. The market opened weaker despite USDA's confirmation on Monday that exporters sold 116,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to China late last week.
"It's hard to get too excited about one to two cargoes. We need to see five to six cargoes sold," one-cash connected trader said, referring to the lagging export pace for US soyabeans. Japanese oilseed crushers were likely to seek US soya for January shipment this week, while South Korea would keep a low profile, Asian traders said.
Satisfactory weather in South American soya regions also was viewed as bearish. Midwest spot soyabean basis bids were steady on Monday, with farmer sales quiet, dealers said.
Soya products also rebounded late. Soyameal followed soyabeans higher and soyaoil was supported by talk of China buying South American and/or US soyaoil, traders said.
December soyameal closed $1.60 per ton higher at $171.70, with the deferreds up $1 to down 20 cents. December soyaoil was up 0.11 cent per lb. at 21.24 cents, with the deferreds up 0.10 to 0.22 cent.
Commodity funds net bought about 500 soyabean contracts and were close to even in soyameal and soyaoil, traders said. Malaysian crude palm oil futures dived to a two-month low on Monday, breaking key support, as the market tracked a slump in US soyaoil, traders said.