US soyabean futures were down nearly 1 percent on Thursday as traders eyed forecasts for much-needed rains in Brazil, while corn and soyabeans were narrowly mixed in light year-end trading. All three markets posted annual declines for 2015, and will be closed on Friday for the New Year's Day holiday. "Going into the weekend with an improved South American weather forecast, that has put some pressure on the bean complex, which is acting as an anchor on the corn and wheat," said Jim Sullivan, an analyst with the Leese Trading Group in Chicago.

Weekly export sales data for soyabeans added pressure. The US Department of Agriculture reported sales of US soyabeans in the week to December 24 at 478,800 tonnes, below a range of trade estimates and a marketing year low. At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 12:29 pm CST (1829 GMT), March soyabeans were down 7 cents at $8.63-1/4 per bushel. March wheat was up 1/2 cent at $4.70-1/4 a bushel and March corn was down 3/4 cent at $3.58-1/4 a bushel.

All three commodities were on track to post annual declines amid a backdrop of plentiful world stocks and a strong US dollar. CBOT wheat was poised to fall 20.3 percent, its second-largest yearly drop since 2008. Corn and soyabeans were each set to fall for a third straight year, with corn down almost 10 percent for 2015 and soyabeans down 14.6 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2016