GRAINS-U.S. soy, wheat firm on bargain buying, technical support
By Mark Weinraub
CHICAGO, May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat and soybeans firmed on Wednesday, reversing overnight losses, on technical buying and a mild round of short-covering, traders said.
Corn futures held steady, with buyers wary of pushing prices higher amid a swift pace of planting in the U.S. Midwest.
Sharp declines on Tuesday caused investors to step in and cover bearish bets despite a bleak fundamental picture for all three commodities that kept Wednesday's gains in check.
"I think it is just a technical bounce off the lows," said Mike Krueger," president of The Money Farm, a grain market advisory service near Fargo, North Dakota.
Wheat, which was leading the market, turned higher after flirting with Tuesday's lows during the overnight session.
Technical support was noted for corn at the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade July contract's 30-day moving average, a level it has not closed below since April 12.
Soybean futures found support near the weekly low, with buyers stepping in despite improving conditions for harvest in Argentina that should boost the amount of supplies available for exporters.
At 10:05 a.m. CST (1505 GMT), CBOT July wheat was up 4 cents at $4.74-3/4 a bushel.
"Wheat is being supported by technical bargain buying and short-covering after Tuesday's falls," said Frank Rijkers, agrifood economist at ABN AMRO Bank. "But the wheat market is still weighing up the latest positive reports about the state of wheat from the U.S. crop tour and has been moving in and out of positive territory today."
Crop scouts starting the annual tour of hard red winter wheat in the U.S. grains powerhouse Kansas projected an average yield of 47.2 bushels per acre in north Kansas, up from tour findings of 34.3 bushels last year. Scouts were surveying western reaches of the state on Wednesday.
CBOT July soybean futures were 4 cents higher at $10.34 a bushel.
Soybeans have surged since mid-April on worry that rains had ruined a significant part of Argentina's soybean crop. The country lost an estimated 9 million tonnes of soybeans due to April downpours.
CBOT July corn was up 1/2 cent at $3.80-1/4 a bushel. (Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
