CBOT corn, soy futures rise on technical trading, weather questions

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, July 2 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures extended gains on Tuesday on short-covering and U.S. crop condition questions, while soybean prices also turned higher on technical trading and unfavorable weather in some soybean growing areas of the central U.S., traders said.

Meanwhile, profit-taking had wheat futures ending the day lower from the previous session's one-week high, traders said.

The condition of the U.S. corn crop deteriorated in the latest week while national soybean ratings held steady after floods swamped portions of the northwestern Midwest, government data showed on Monday.

But some meteorological models are predicting the western Corn Belt in the U.S. Midwest could face dry weather and high heat in late July or early August, which could impact soybean pod setting.

“If you have a super wet crop, and it turns super hot, that's about as bad of a weather picture as it can get for beans,” said Angie Setzer, a partner at Consus Ag.

Early in the session, strength in the soymeal market carried over to give soybean futures a boost, traders said. By day's end, they said, bull-spreading had nearby soymeal and soybean futures closing higher than new-crop contracts.

Meanwhile, market analysts said, funds and other market participants are keeping a close eye on the sluggish pace of crop sales by Argentinian farmers.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Cv1 settled up 3/4-cent at $4.21-1/4 a bushel. Wheat Wv1 ended down 9-1/4 cents at $5.81 a bushel while soybeans Sv1 gained 2 cents to end at $11.13 a bushel.

Corn traders continued to wrestle with last week's acreage report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, given the agency in recent years has overstated corn acres in its June reports, Setzer said. USDA reported on Friday that U.S. farmers planted more corn than the government forecast in March, news that helped drive corn futures CU24 to contract lows.

(Additional eporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris. Editing by David Goodman, Paul Simao and Lisa Shumaker)