BEIJING — Chicago corn futures rose on Thursday, supported by technical buying and short-covering, while soybeans rebounded from a four-month low hit in the previous session.
Wheat also edged higher, though prices hovered near a seven-week low amid harvest pressure across the North Hemisphere.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.18 percent at $4.13 per bushel, as of 0136 GMT.
Soybeans gained 0.35 percent to $9.99 a bushel, while heat rose 0.19 percent to $5.24-6/8 a bushel after two consecutive sessions of falls.
Favourable weather in the Midwest has bolstered expectations for a strong harvest, pressuring corn and soybean prices.
Corn harvesting has started in the far southern fringes of the crop belt, including Texas and Louisiana, weekly US data showed.
* Asia demand for corn is brisk due to low prices. Taiwan’s MFIG purchasing group bought about 65,000 metric tons of animal feed corn expected to be sourced from the United States in an international tender on Wednesday, European traders said.
Bangladesh’s government has approved the purchase of about 220,000 tons of wheat from the United States as part of efforts to cool trade tensions, lending some support to wheat prices.
Traders are awaiting weekly US grain and soybean export sales data from the US Department of Agriculture due later in the day. The agency is also expected to raise its US corn yield estimate in a monthly crop report due on August 12.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, soymeal, soyoil and wheat futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said. Funds were net buyers of corn futures, they said.
