CBOT soybeans end firm on pre-holiday position squaring

CHICAGO, July 3 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures climbed to a two-week high on Thursday on short covering and positioning ahead of the long U.S. Independence Day holiday weekend but pared gains late in the session on good U.S. weather and ample global supplies, traders said.

• Markets will be closed on Friday for the holiday.

• CBOT August soybeans SQ25 settled 2 cents higher at $10.55-1/2 a bushel, closing the week with a 2.2% weekly gain. The new-crop November contract SX25 ended up 1-1/4 cents at $10.49-1/4 a bushel, up 2.4% in the week.

• CBOT August soymeal SMQ25 ended up 60 cents at $277.40 per short ton.

• CBOT August soyoil BOQ25 finished down 0.47 cent at 54.55 cents per pound.

• Generally favorable U.S. crop weather and expectations for a bumper harvest in Brazil have limited soybean market gains. Forecasts for warm temperatures and scattered showers in the U.S. Midwest over the next two weeks were seen as favoring crop growth ahead of the crop's crucial flowering, pod setting and pod filling stages of development.

• U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday which he has said will make farmers "very happy." Soybeans have firmed on unconfirmed rumors that he would report progress on a trade pact with China, analysts said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday confirmed private sales of 226,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to undisclosed buyers for shipment in the 2024/25 marketing year. The agency also reported 195,000 tons of U.S. soymeal sales to undisclosed buyers for shipment in the current and next marketing years.