GRAINS-U.S. soy edges up after tumble on Argentine rains

SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. soy futures were a
touch higher in early Asian trade on Thursday, ticking up after
posting their steepest fall in 1-/12 months overnight on news of
rain in Argentina aiding the drought-stressed crop.
Wheat traded in a tight range as investors took positions
ahead of the U.S. Agriculture Department's monthly supply and
demand report due out later today, while corn was also steady.
U.S. soybean futures rose 0.29 percent to $12.06-1/2
per bushel.
March corn futures edged up 0.08 percent at $6.52.
CBOT March wheat was up 0.12 percent to $6.41-3/4 per
bushel.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Showers in Argentina are expected to bring 1 to 2 inches
of rain to heat-stressed corn and soybeans, benefiting the
developing soy crop more than the corn crop, easing soy supply
worries.
* Grain traders were positioning ahead of key monthly and
quarterly U.S. government crop data on Thursday. Traders expect
few major changes for the U.S. soy balance sheet but are
watching for reduced South American crop forecasts.

* U.S. wheat ending stocks were seen at 842 million bushels
and stocks as of Dec. 1, 2011 were expected to be 1.695 billion
bushels.
* The Thursday report is expected to show that farmers
seeded 40.933 million acres of winter wheat, up from 40.646
million a year ago, according to a Reuters survey.

* Analysts are expecting USDA's export sales report to show
wheat export sales in a range from 250,000 to 400,000 in latest
reporting week, up from 168,200 last week.
* A South Korea feedmaker bought 118,000 tonnes of corn,
55,000 tonnes of feed wheat and 55,000 tonnes of soybean mealfor
April and May delivery via tenders.

MARKET NEWS
* The euro remained in the doldrums in Asia on Thursday,
having lurched to a fresh 16-month low on the dollar as markets
turned nervous ahead of a bond sale by Spain.
* Oil fell on Wednesday as an unexpectedly large increase in
U.S. crude inventories and persistent worries about Europe's
debt crisis outweighed concerns over supply disruptions from
Iran and Nigeria.
* U.S. stocks held firm near recent five-month highs on
Wednesday as investors awaited key bond market tests for Europe
in the next two days that could determine the direction of the
euro zone crisis.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Thursday:
0130 China CPI yy Dec 2011

0130 China PPI yy Dec 2011

0530 India Industrial Output y/y Nov 2011

0900 Italy Industrial output yy WDA Nov 2011

1000 EZ Industrial production yy Nov 2011

1200 Britain BOE Bank Rate Jan 2012

1245 EZ ECB rate decision Jan 2012

1330 U.S. Fla Orange output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WASDE-wheat output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Wheat endstocks11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WASDE-Corn output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Corn endstocks 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Soybean output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Soybn endstocks11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Cotton output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WSD-Cottn endstocks11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WASDE-Beef Output 2011 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. WASDE-Pork output 2011 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. Fla Orange output 11/12 Jan 2012

1330 U.S. Qtrly Grain Stocks-Wheat Dec 2011

1330 U.S. Qtrly Grain Stocks-Corn Dec 201

1330 U.S. Qtrly Grain Stocks-Soy Dec 201

1530 U.S. EIA natural gas stocks Weekly

Grains prices at 0146 GMT
Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI

CBOT wheat 641.75 0.75 +0.12% +0.31% 619.96 55

CBOT corn 652.00 0.50 +0.08% +0.00% 618.31 67

CBOT soy 1206.50 3.50 +0.29% -2.07% 1169.30 51

CBOT rice $14.87 $0.07 +0.47% +0.71% $14.41 60

WTI crude $101.25 $0.38 +0.38% -0.97% $99.53 52

Currencies

Euro/dlr $1.271 $0.000 +0.01% -0.52%

USD/AUD 1.029 -0.002 -0.19% -0.20%

Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight

RSI 14, exponential

(Reporting by Pauline Askin; Editing by Ed Davies)