US wheat futures eased on Wednesday while corn and soyabeans were little changed, as grain markets paused after rallying this week on demand hopes fuelled by a US-Chinese trade agreement.
Traders are looking for confirmation of agricultural sales to China in the wake of the announcement on Friday of a first-step deal between Washington and Beijing to resolve their bitter trade dispute.
The agreement included a Chinese commitment to expand purchases of US farm products. However, traders are cautious about projections from Washington that deals will reach $40-$50 billion within two years, compared to $24 billion before the trade dispute.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not report any new sales of soyabeans - the most valuable US crop export to China - in its daily export sales reporting system.
The most actively traded wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 4-3/4 cents to $5.51-1/2 a bushel by 10:27 a.m. CST (1627 GMT), after reaching a 5-1/2-month high at $5.57-1/4 on Tuesday.
CBOT soyabeans were flat at $9.28-3/4 a bushel, after touching a five-week high of $9.31 in the previous session. Corn
edged down 1 cent to $3.89 a bushel, having struck a six-week top a day earlier at $3.90-1/2.
Profit-taking weighed on the markets after recent gains, traders said. Futures also ran into technical resistance on price charts following gains fuelled by investment fund flows, they said.
Still, prices were underpinned by plans from Argentina's new government to raise taxes on crop exports, traders said. That move could curb supply from the major grain exporter and shift demand towards other suppliers like the United States.
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