Soybeans touch five-week high as dollar retreats

Soybean futures rose to March 9 highs in American trade as the dollar index fell off early March highs for the third straight session, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest soybean producer and exporter. 

As of 07:56 GMT, soybean futures due on May 15 rose 0.26% to $10.6025 from the opening of $10.5750, marking five-week highs, while the dollar index declined 0.23% to 89.63 from the opening of 89.84, marking March 28 lows. 

Earlier US data showed producer prices accelerated to 0.3% in March from 0.2% in February, beating expectations of 0.1%, while core prices accelerated as well to 0.3% from 0.2%.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged in his Boao Forum speech to open up China's economy to the world while cutting tariffs on automobiles and other imports, while calling for more cooperation with other countries to foster economic growth, soothing fears of a US-China trade war. 

The US Department of Agriculture reported its projections for global agriculture supply and demand, downgrading Argentinean soybean output projections by 7 million tonnes to 40 million tonnes due to extremely dry weather in the first quarter of 2018.  

The USDA expects soybean output to grow modestly in Brazil, the world's largest producer of the commodity, by 2 million tonnes to a new record high at 115 million, while expecting US soybean inventories to fall to 550 million bushels by the end of the current marketing year.