Soybeans rise 1% past $9, shrugging off disappointing USDA data

Soybean futures rose over one percent to early August highs as the dollar index edged lower, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest soybean producer and exporter. 

As of 07:47 GMT, soybean futures due in December rose 1.37% to $9.0574, while the dollar index shed 0.17% to 95.20 against a basket of main currencies. 

USDA Reports Ratings, Inspections 

In its weekly Crop Progress report, the US Department of Agriculture cut soybean ratings to 67% as good-to-excellent in the week ending last Sunday from 70% in the previous report, missing estimates of 69%. 

The USDA reported inspections of 893.1 thousand tonnes of soybeans destined for export in the week ending August 2, up from 768.8 thousand in the previous week, with total inspected product destined for export in the marketing year starting September amounting to 53.4 million tonnes, down from 55.1 million last year. 

US Labor Data 

An index tracking US job openings stayed the same in June at 6.64 million, missing expectations of 6.74 million. 

Last Friday saw the release of the US payrolls report, which showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% as expected from 4.0% in June, while average hourly earnings rose 0.3% as expected, up from 0.1% in June. 

The economy added 157 thousand jobs last month, down from 248 thousand in June, and missing estimates of 191K.