US soyabean futures closed lower on Thursday on a mild technical setback after failing to take out highs set earlier this week, traders said. Soyabeans had traded in positive territory for much of the session on signs of a pick-up in export demand from China, the world's top buyer of soyabeans. Soyameal and soyaoil futures also weakened. CBOT December soyaoil futures hit resistance at its 200-day moving average for the third day in a row.

CBOT December soyameal faced resistance at its 50-day moving average. China will buy about 6 million tonnes of soyabeans from the United States before trade talks in early October, Li Qiang, chief analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co Ltd, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event.

The US Department of Agriculture, through its daily reporting system, said on Thursday private exporters sold 257,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to China for delivery in the 2019/20 marketing year that began on September 1. Weekly export sales of soyabeans totaled 1.038 million tonnes, USDA said, near the high end of market forecasts for 800,000 to 1.3 million tonnes. The total included 391,400 tonnes to China.

Copyright Reuters, 2019