CHICAGO: US wheat futures jumped more than 3 percent on Monday on fund-driven short-covering coupled with expectations of a pick-up in export business, analysts said.
Corn futures followed wheat higher while soybeans declined on forecasts for rising US soy inventories.
As of 12:12 p.m. CST (1812 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade December soft red winter wheat futures were up 17-3/4 cents at $5.19-3/4 per bushel after reaching $5.20, the contract's highest since Oct. 17.
CBOT December corn was up 1-1/4 cents at $3.71 while January soybeans were down 3-1/4 cents at $8.83-1/2 a bushel.
Wheat futures rallied after the December contract on Friday neared psychological support at $5 a bushel.
"Wheat garnered support after prices fell to areas that uncovered value-buying in the past, with Chicago seeing double-digit gains on fund buying as we approach first notice day," INTL FCStone chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman said in a client note.
CBOT December wheat also gained against back months on expectations that maximum storage costs for deliverable CBOT wheat would decline next month, Suderman said.
The CME Group, parent of the CBOT, adjusts wheat storage rates based on the average price spread between the front two futures contracts during a roughly two-month observation period that ends next week.
Others cited poor weather in Argentina, where the wheat crop is developing, and optimism about export demand for US wheat.
"Wheat is rebounding as we expect strong demand for US supplies in the first half of next year as the Black Sea region and Australia will have less to sell," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.
Soybean futures declined as traders digested the US Department of Agriculture's Nov. 8 forecast for US soybean stocks to rise to 955 million bushels by the end of the 2018/19 marketing year following a record-large harvest and as a trade fight with China limits exports.
"We had a pretty bearish (USDA) report on Thursday. There is not much bullish news out there in soybeans right now," said Terry Reilly, senior analyst with Futures International.
US President Donald Trump is due to meet with China President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit to discuss a possible way out of their deepening trade war.
Soybean futures also lost ground relative to soymeal and soyoil futures, a reversal of last week's trend in which both soy products fell versus soybeans.
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