Wheat down 2-4 cents, corn down 1-2, soybeans up 2-3

• Wheat lower on technical selling and generally favorable weather for US winter wheat.
• Corn lower on technical selling and a lack of fresh supportive news. Market underpinned by a slow US harvest pace.
• Soybean futures firm on short-covering after Friday's 1.4% drop coupled with optimism about prospects for a US-China trade deal.

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 Monday.

NOTE: Thursday is first notice day for deliveries against CBOT November futures contracts.

WHEAT - Down 2 to 4 cents per bushel

Wheat lower on technical selling and generally favorable weather for US winter wheat, along with adequate global supplies and strong global export competition.

The supplement to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments report showed large speculators cut their net short position in CBOT wheat by nearly 21,000 contracts in the week to Oct. 22, to 12,291 lots.

For K.C. hard red winter wheat, the CFTC's supplemental report showed large speculators widened to their net short by about 3,000 contracts, to 15,971 lots.

CBOT December soft red winter wheat last traded down 4-1/2 cents at $5.13-1/4 per bushel. K.C. December hard red winter wheat was last down 3 cents at $4.19-3/4 per bushel, and MGEX December spring wheat was last unchanged at $5.36-3/4 per bushel.

CORN - Down 1 to 2 cents per bushel

Corn lower on technical selling and a lack of fresh supportive news. Market underpinned by a slow US harvest pace.

The supplement to the CFTC's weekly commitments report showed large speculators widened their net short position in CBOT corn futures by about 14,000 contracts in the week to Oct. 22, to 132,924 lots.

CBOT December corn last traded down 2 cents at $3.84-3/4 per bushel.

SOYBEANS - Up 2 to 3 cents per bushel

Soybean futures firm on short-covering after Friday's 1.4% drop coupled with optimism about prospects for a US-China trade deal.

US and Chinese officials are "close to finalizing" some parts of a trade agreement after high-level telephone discussions on Friday, the US Trade Representative's office and China's Commerce Ministry said, with talks to continue.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he expected to sign a significant part of the trade deal with China ahead of schedule but did not elaborate on the timing.

The USDA said private exporters sold 135,000 tonnes of US soymeal to the Philippines for delivery during the 2019/20 marketing year that began Oct. 1.

The supplement to the CFTC's weekly commitments report showed large speculators expanded their net long position in CBOT soybeans by about 14,000 contracts in the week to Oct. 22, to 35,718 lots - the biggest net long since June 2018.

CBOT November soybeans last traded up 3 cents at $9.23-1/4 per bushel.