Soybean Prices End Lower

Soybean futures prices were lower and grains were steady on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Soybean prices came under pressure late in the session after soybean oil prices broke. Dale Gustafson, a grain analyst in Chicago with Drexel Burnham Lambert, said selling developed in the oil pit when traders who had bought contracts in previous sessions sold them to take profits.

That development triggered selling in the soybean pit, and prices fell quickly, exerting further pressure on the oil market, he said.

Exporting and processing companies were said to be buying corn contracts late in the session, which brought those prices back from earlier weakness.

Wheat prices were higher initially on buying by computer directed accounts, fell during midsession trading on selling by commercial companies, but recovered near the close.

Traders in the wheat pit were cautious, as private crop analyst Conrad Leslie was to release his winter wheat crop estimate after the close of trading.