India soybean hit 3 pct circuit, pares gains

MUMBAI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - India soybean futures breached the initial upper circuit of 3 percent to touch new highs on Monday morning tracking a firm U.S. soybean and Malaysian palm markets, analysts said.

Later , the market retreated from highs on profit-taking.

At 10:42 a.m. the February soybean futures NSBG9 rose 1.53 percent to 2,223 rupees per 100 kg. The contract had earlier touched a new high of 2,256 rupees.

At 10:44 a.m. the March palm oil KPOH9 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were up 4.06 percent at 1,998 ringgit a tonne.

India, which imports a large part of its edible oil requirement, tracks international prices.

March soybean futures SH9 rose 1.71 percent to $10.52 a bushel during electronic trade on Monday. Gains were helped by dry weather in soybean growing regions of South America.

Demand in the spot market may remain steady but supplies are likely to rise substantially later this week as farmers boost supplies due to good prices, analysts said. (Reporting by Abhishek Shanker & Sourav Mishra; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)