Stocks dip, led by tech; euro at 1-week low
HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Friday, at risk of a seventh straight day of losses, led by selling in the technology sector, though cheap valuations kept Japan's market in the black.
"Given that the Nikkei has risen for the past three sessions despite falls in Wall Street, some players may think it's time for profit-taking," said Takashi Hiroshi, chief strategist at Monex Securities.
Brent at 5-wk high on positive US data, supply fears
SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose to $120 a barrel for the first time in five weeks, while U.S. oil climbed above $102 a barrel, on better-than-expected data from top consumer United States and supply worries triggered by OPEC's failure to agree on an output hike.
"The better-than-expected U.S. trade deficit results boosted not only the U.S. equities but commodities as well," said Singapore-based oil analyst Serene Lim of ANZ Bank. "The positive sentiment continued into Asia's morning trades."
OPEC ready to act if needed, split was over data
VIENNA, June 9 (Reuters) - Economics, rather than politics, was behind the collapse of this week's OPEC talks and the group as a whole would act if it grew worried about oil supplies running short, a top OPEC official said on Thursday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met for the first time this year on Wednesday and for the first time in around a decade failed to make a decision on output policy.
Global corn supply tightens as U.S. grows less
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Global corn supplies will be much tighter next year than forecast a month ago, the U.S. government said on Thursday as it unexpectedly cut its estimate for the U.S. crop and forecast a jump in demand from China.
Chicago corn futures briefly spiked to an all-time high after the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) said rains and floods prevented farmers from planting all the corn they had intended, cutting the likely size of the crop by 2 percent, an unusual revision just weeks ahead of its annual June survey.
Soy crush recovery looks set to last: Gavin Maguire
CHICAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - After months of being mired close to multi-year lows, U.S. soy crush values are starting to push higher thanks to the prospect of higher-than-projected soybean plantings brought about by a rainy spring that prevented farmers from being able to complete corn seedings on time.
And with soymeal prices edging higher on the back of expectations that crushing facilities in the western Corn Belt will shutter should the Missouri river burst its banks in late June, crush values may start to gather upside momentum over the coming months.
U.S. corn edges back after scaling record highs
SYDNEY, Jun 10 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures posted modest falls in early Asian trade on Friday after hitting record highs on Thursday as the U.S. government scaled back crop prospects in the country's corn belt due to rain-delayed plantings threatening yields.
In a monthly grains and oilseeds report, the government also sliced its estimate of corn stocks held by the world's top exporter of the grain.
China May soy imports up 17.5 pct vs April
BEIJING, Jun 10 (Reuters) - China, the world's largest soy buyer, imported 4.56 million tonnes of soybeans in May, up 17.5 percent from 3.88 million tonnes in April, figures from the General Administration of Customs of China showed on Friday.
Despite negative crushing margins, Chinese crushers have increased imports to take advantage of peak seasonal demand for animal feed from June. May imports were also slightly higher than the year-ago period at 4.37 million tonnes.
China feed mills shifting to more cheap wheat from corn
BEIJING, June 10 (Reuters) - China's feed mills are using more cheap wheat as a substitute for corn, with wheat prices now 9.3 percent below corn as the wheat harvest nears, traders said on Friday.
Physical wheat in most of China's northern areas was more than 200 yuan ($31) per tonne cheaper than corn , enough to attract feed mills, and the price gap is likely to expand further after large quantities of new wheat hit the market, they said.
U.S. 2011 crop weather not a repeat of 1983-Cropcast
CHICAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - The rainy conditions in the U.S. Midwest this spring that stalled corn and soy planting have prompted comparisons in the grain trade to 1983, a very poor year for crops that featured similar spring weather.
But the similarities to 1983 are limited, a meteorologist with Cropcast, a division of MDA Information Systems, said in a statement on Thursday.
Argentina soy output seen at 50.3 mln T-exchange
BUENOS AIRES, June 9 (Reuters) - Argentina's 2010/11 soy output is seen totaling 50.3 million tonnes, up slightly from the 50.2 million tonnes forecast last month, the Rosario grains exchange said on Thursday.
Argentina is the world's No. 3 soybean exporter and the biggest soymeal and soyoil supplier. The Agriculture Ministry expects this season's soy crop, which farmers have nearly finished harvesting, at 50.4 million tonnes.
Drought-hit Texas farmers on brink of writing off cotton
NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - Reeling from the worst drought in a century, cotton farmers in Texas are on the brink of writing off their withered plants this year and collecting the insurance.
"We cannot make this crop with no relief from hot temperatures and the wind," said Gary Evitt, a cotton farmer for over 40 years working on 2,000 acres of irrigated cotton outside Lubbock, Texas, in the heart of the Lone Star State's cotton area. "This is the worst (drought) I have seen."
Copper ends up in anticipation of China trade data
NEW YORK/LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Copper eked out a modest gain by the close on Thursday, as expectations for a rebound in Chinese imports counterbalanced the negative macro-economic impact from weekly U.S. jobless claims figures.
"It's a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economic landscape, so it suggests that the U.S. economy is getting support from a least one quarter -- the trade sector," said Peter Buchanan, commodities analyst and senior economist at CIBC in Toronto.
China copper imports fall 3 percent on month in May
HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters) - China's imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper products dropped 3 percent in May after falling 13.7 percent in April because of high stocks.
The world's top copper consumer imported 254,738 tonnes of copper in the form of anode, refined and alloy, and semi-finished products such as rods versus 262,676 tonnes in April, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.
China's iron ore imports up 0.8 pct in May, June may fall
SHANGHAI, June 10 (Reuters) - China's iron ore imports rose 0.8 percent to 53.3 million tonnes in May from the previous month, official data from China's customs authority showed on Friday.
Chinese steel mills, which usually consume two-thirds of seaborne iron ore, have raced to expand production since this year, despite Beijing's tightening moves to tame inflation and curb the hot property market.
Strike nears end at Chile copper mine, output rises
SANTIAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - Output should return to normal in days at the world's No. 5 copper mine, El Teniente in Chile, after thousands of contractors abandoned a 16-day strike that seems near its end, the company said.
Staff workers also decided to return to work on Friday after strikers began wage talks with their employers to resolve a sometimes violent 16-day walkout that is losing strength.
US copper imports up despite weaker housing sector
NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - Inbound shipments of copper into the United States rose for a second-straight month in April to their highest levels since March 2009, as fragments of the economy continued to thrive even as housing weakened further.
Data from the U.S. international Trade Commission on Thursday showed April copper imports climbed to 73,061 tonnes from 66,166 tonnes in March, to stand at their highest since March 2009, when imports came to 79,975 tonnes.
Gold drifts in small range; dollar, Greece crisis aid
SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - Spot gold moved in a narrow range on Friday, underpinned by a slightly weaker dollar and ongoing concerns about the Greek debt crisis.
"Gold is in a consolidation mode," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in China.
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