GRAINS-Technical sales, S. American crop prospects push soy lower

* Corn close to flat after hitting lowest since Aug 2010
* Egypt deal supports wheat; no U.S. supply in purchase
* Soybeans trading below 200-day moving average

(Updates with U.S. trading, adds new analyst quote, dateline,
byline)
By Mark Weinraub
CHICAGO, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures dropped 1.2
percent on Tuesday, pressured by technical selling and
expectations that a large crop in South America will bolster the
global balance sheet, traders said.
Corn was little changed, but the market was trading above
overnight lows on bargain buying. Prices hit their lowest since

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August 2010 during overnight trading. Wheat futures firmed on
support from strong overseas demand.
Traders said investors were stepping back from the bullish
soybeans and bearish corn position they have built up during the
harvest of a record U.S. corn crop.
"It seems like the trade is buying corn and selling beans
against it," said Garret Toay, risk management consultant at
Toay Commodities Futures Group. "The focus is starting to shift
to South America. With weather being benign down there, you are
seeing a bit of a unwind of that (long soy/short corn) trade."
At 10:50 a.m. CST (1637 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade January
soybean futures were down 18-1/2 cents at $12.69 a bushel.
During Tuesday's session, prices fell below key support at their
200-day moving average for the first time since Nov. 8.

A dry spell in Argentina should allow soy planting to
progress rapidly in the next week now that the ground is
sufficiently moist, a local meteorologist said.
Winter and the first days of spring were dry in Argentina,
but abundant rains fell on the main crop areas in October. Soy
farmers now need time to work the soil.
CBOT corn for December delivery was up 1/4 cent at
$4.12-1/4 a bushel. Prices bottomed out at $4.10-3/4 before
turning higher.
Corn's gains were capped by pressure from news that China
had cancelled a cargo of U.S. corn because it contained Syngenta
AG's genetically modified Agrisure Viptera corn that
has not been approved by Beijing.
Most traders said other rejections were unlikely and that
the move would not have much long-term impact on flows of grain
to China from the United States.
CBOT December wheat gained 1-1/4 cent to $6.43-1/2 a
bushel.

"Wheat has fallen into support near the summer lows and
should get further support from firmer overseas values,"
Sterling Smith, futures specialist at Citigroup, said in a note
to clients.
Egypt's GASC on Tuesday bought 120,000 tonnes of Russian
wheat for shipment in December, the second deal for the world's
largest importer of wheat in the past week.
Concerns about the U.S. crop as it heads into dormancy added
support for wheat prices.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday afternoon
that the winter wheat crop was rated 63 percent good to
excellent, down 2 percentage points from a week earlier. The
crop was in much better shape than a year ago, when USDA ratings
were just 34 percent good to excellent.

Prices at 10:48 a.m. CST (1648 GMT)

LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
CBOT corn 412.00 0.00 0.0% -41.0%
CBOT soy 1268.50 -19.00 -1.5% -10.6%
CBOT meal 405.10 -10.70 -2.6% -3.7%
CBOT soyoil 39.89 -0.21 -0.6% -18.9%
CBOT wheat 643.25 1.00 0.2% -17.3%
CBOT rice 1583.50 -1.00 -0.1% 6.6%
EU wheat 203.75 -0.25 -0.1% -18.6%

US crude 92.88 -0.15 -0.2% 1.2%

Dow Jones 15,968 -9 -0.1% 21.9%
Gold 1275.46 1.72 0.1% -23.8%
Euro/dollar 1.3526 0.0023 0.2% 2.5%
Dollar Index 80.7180 -0.1070 -0.1% 1.2%
Baltic Freight 1495 -5 -0.3% 113.9%
In U.S. cents, benchmark contracts, except EU wheat (euros) and
soymeal (dollars). CBOT wheat, corn and soybeans per bushel,
rice per hundredweight, soymeal per ton and soyoil per lb.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Peter Galloway)