Chicago Board of Trade May wheat rose 0.73 percent to $7.28-1/4 a bushel by 0724 GMT. CBOT May corn gained 0.95 percent to $6.90 a bushel.

"The trade in grains is pretty choppy. We had some strong rallies late last week after a big sell-off," said Victor Thianpiriya, agricultural commodity analyst at ANZ in Melbourne.

He noted corn markets were particularly sensitive after news that US exporters sold over 100,000 tonnes of corn last week.

"China was a buyer of corn last week. The USDA reported a sale of 116,000 tonne of corn to unknown destination - that probably means China. More news like that will be bullish."

A six-day price slide last week, the longest slump in four months, attracted buyers and lifted sales above 1 million tonnes for the seventh time in nine weeks.

Also helping underpin grains prices was a near two percent jump in oil prices on Monday after Western forces launched attacks on Libyan air defences over the weekend.

May soybeans slipped 0.37 percent to $13.57-1/2 a bushel, but that market could be due for a technical reversal according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao, while unfavourable weather in Brazil may also support prices, in spite of disappointing US sales last week.

He said soybeans may rally to $14.20 per bushel as a long-term bull trend has resumed.

Support was pegged at $13.40, a fall below which could be limited to stronger support at $13.28, the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement on the rise from $12.70 to $13.85-3/4.

On the crop front ANZ's Thianpiriya noted crop conditions in Argentina had improved, with crop estimates revised to 48 million tonnes from 47 million tonnes.

"But in Brazil it's worse. They have been getting a lot of rain but in the past month or two they've had too much and that has knocked two to three million tonnes off the crop estimate."

In wheat, the market is eyeing the western US Plains hard red wheat belt for weather and moisture conditions for signs of lower yields.