CHICAGO- Chicago Board of Trade corn futures eased on Friday on technical selling and disappointment in the size of weekly export sales, analysts said.
Soybeans faced pressure from profit-taking in soymeal and soyoil futures, and wheat futures turned lower on sluggish exports, said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting.
“Global trade on wheat is stagnant right now, so there’s no urgency in the market to extend coverage,” Setzer said.
The most-active CBOT corn contract settled down 1-1/2 cents at $4.42 a bushel, rising 0.45 percent for the week.
The contract had reached its highest since late June at $4.51-1/4 on Wednesday after the US Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for US end-of-season corn stockpiles to 1.738 billion bushels from 1.938 billion.
But USDA weekly export data on Thursday showed net US corn sales at 946,900 metric tons, below analyst forecasts for at least 1.1 million tons.
Most-active soybeans closed down 7-1/2 cents to $9.88-1/4 a bushel, falling 0.55 percent for the week. CBOT wheat slipped 6-1/4 cents to end at $5.52-1/4 a bushel, losing 0.90 percent for the week.
