CANBERRA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Monday after touching their lowest levels since mid-January as an improving outlook for harvest in South America suggested that supply will remain plentiful.
Corn and wheat prices fell amid ample supply.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $12.12-1/4 a bushel by 0130 GMT. Earlier in the day, the contract dropped to $12.07, its lowest since Jan. 18.
* CBOT corn was down 0.2% at $4.45-1/2 a bushel, hovering near its Jan. 18 low of $4.37.
* Soybeans and corn are near multi-year lows after rainfall fed optimism about harvests in key suppliers Argentina and Brazil.
* Wheat fell 0.4% to $5.97-3/4 a bushel.
* The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange raised its estimate of Argentina's soybean crop to 52.5 million metric tons, up about 1% from its previous forecast, and pegged the corn crop at 56.5 million tons, up nearly 3%.
* Traders, meanwhile, say cash basis levels for Brazilian soybeans have been falling as market players gain confidence in the size of Brazil's harvest.
* Demand fears are also weighing, with a shrinking pig herd in top soybean importer China set to reduce its demand for feed.
* Speculators have built their most bearish-ever January view across U.S. grains and oilseeds, and the collective net short is among the largest on record, driven by further selling in soybeans and meal last week.
* More ships carrying grain were diverted from the Suez Canal to routes around the Cape of Good Hope this week after attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, shipping analysts said. About 7 million metric tons of grain cargoes normally transit the Suez Canal into the Red Sea each month.
* Egypt will import about 7 million tons of wheat in 2024, the supply minister said.
* Chinese customs authorities have included Argentine companies in its list of those approved to export wheat to China for the first time, the Argentine government said.
MARKETS NEWS
* MSCI's global stock index barely rose on Friday, while the U.S. dollar edged down after the U.S. Federal Reserve's favoured inflation reading showed moderating prices and investors waited for clues on interest rate policy.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
