GRAINS-Soybeans edge higher, but absence of Chinese buying limits upside

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Wednesday, recouping some losses from previous session, although gains were limited by a lack of Chinese buying of U.S. cargoes despite last week's trade truce between the two countries.

Corn and wheat fell as broad market declines in crude oil and Wall Street equities added to the bearish sentiment.

"The soybean market ran up on Chinese demand expectations," said one trader in Singapore. "But we haven't seen much buying emerge from China."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 0.1% at $11.23 a bushel, as of 0320 GMT. Corn Cv1 lost 0.5% to $4.29-1/2 a bushel and wheat Wv1 gave up 0.6% to $5.46-3/4 a bushel.

The White House has said China will buy millions of metric tons of U.S. soybeans under last week's agreement to de-escalate the countries' trade war, with Washington specifying an initial volume of 12 million tons should be booked by the end of December.

However, traders have yet to confirm large purchases of U.S. supplies, while on Monday market sources said Chinese soybean importers have stepped up purchases of cheaper Brazilian cargoes.

The U.S. government remains largely shut down, halting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's flash export sales reports.

Asian stocks dived on Wednesday and market volatility surged to levels not seen since April after an overnight tech-led selloff on Wall Street put the spotlight on stretched valuations. MKTS/GLOB

Corn futures were pressured by brokerage StoneX raising its forecast of the U.S. corn yield slightly, a move that countered recent expectations of declining yield potential.

S&P Global Commodity Insights on Tuesday left its estimate of the average U.S. 2025 corn yield unchanged at 185.5 bushels per acre, but the firm raised its estimates of corn harvested area and production.

In news, European Union soft wheat exports so far this season as reported by the European Commission jumped by almost 1.8 million metric tons last week as the figures incorporated a chunk of missing data for top EU wheat producer France.