Wheat down 3-6 cents; soybeans, corn steady to up 2 cents

CHICAGO: Following are US trade expectations for the opening of grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Tuesday.

WHEAT - Down 3 to 6 cents per bushel

* Wheat futures easing on expectations for big US and Russian harvests, concerns about export demand.

* Benchmark CBOT May soft red winter wheat futures contract hit lowest since March 12 during overnight trading session and briefly fell below the low end of its 20-day Bollinger range.

* K.C. hard red winter wheat, MGEX spring wheat hit fresh contract lows during overnight trading.

* CBOT May wheat last traded down 3-3/4 cents at $4.35 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat was last down 5-1/2 cents at $4.09 and MGEX May spring wheat was up 2-1/4 cents at $5.13-1/2. Deferred MGEX spring wheat contracts were lower.

CORN - Steady to down 2 cents per bushel

* Short-covering expected to support corn after May contract hit new low on Tuesday. Ample supplies, weakness in wheat to limit buying opportunities.

* CBOT May corn last traded up 1/2 cent at $3.51-3/4 per bushel.

SOYBEANS - Steady to up 2 cents per bushel

* Bargain-buying bounce expected after prices for the most-active contract dropped 1.7 percent to their lowest since Nov. 27 on Tuesday.

* Traders watching to see if benchmark CBOT May soybean futures can break through resistance at low end of 20-day Bollinger range.

* CBOT May soybeans last traded up 1-1/4 cents at $8.63-1/4 per bushel.