SINGAPORE, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans rose on Friday, with the market poised for a fourth yearly gain, as a drought in key supplier Argentina and expectations of strong Chinese demand lifted the market, which had climbed to a 10-year high in June.
Wheat futures edged higher, even though the market is on track to finish 2022 largely unchanged, having raced to an all-time high in March after Russia's invasion of Ukraine curbed global supplies.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.5% to $15.23-1/4 a bushel, as 0205 of GMT, wheat gained 0.3% at $7.76-1/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.1% to $6.80 a bushel.
* For the year, soybeans are up almost 14%, wheat has added less than 1%, after closing higher for the last five years. Corn has jumped about 15%.
* A severe drought is likely to reduce soybean output in Argentina just as demand in China, by far the world's top importer, is expected to recover after the country eased strict COVID-19 controls.
* Resumption of wheat exports from Ukraine under a U.S.-brokered deal has weighed on wheat prices in the second half of 2022, although harsh cold weather across North America is raising concerns over 2023 supplies.
* Deliveries against CBOT January soybean futures should be thin on Friday, the first notice day, reflecting relatively firm domestic cash markets for the oilseed, traders and analysts said on Thursday.
* Some participants booked profits after the rally in grains that may have been amplified by thin holiday volumes, traders said.
* Argentina's estimated wheat production for the 2022/2023 season could be slashed again in coming weeks as yields come in lower than expected, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday.
* Late frosts and a historic drought have caused the exchange to cut its estimate for the South American country's wheat crop to 12.4 million tonnes from an initial estimate of 20.5 million tonnes seen at the beginning of the season.
* U.S. wheat markets remained capped by Russian competition in export markets, highlighted by a purchase of 200,000 tonnes of Russian wheat by Egypt this week.
* Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean and soyoil contracts on Thursday, and net sellers of corn, soymeal and wheat futures contracts, traders said.
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, powered by a rebound in recently battered mega-cap growth stocks, while crude oil prices declined as a surge of COVID cases in China exacerbated fears of global economic downturn.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 UK Nationwide House Price MM, YY Dec (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh.V)
