Corn edges lower, but still set for first weekly rise in 6 weeks

SYDNEY: US corn nudged lower on Friday but was still poised to record its first weekly gain in more than a month, buoyed by strong Chinese economic data and signs of robust overseas demand for American supplies.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were down 0.2 percent to $3.57 a bushel after jumping 3.6 percent on Thursday. Underpinned by the biggest daily gain nearly two months, corn is up nearly 1 percent for the week, the first weekly gain since mid-July.

The United States Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US corn in the latest week at 992,500 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), well beyond trade expectations for a range of 400,000-900,000 tonnes.

"We have been waiting for US exports to respond to low prices. This data unambiguously says they have," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Despite the export-led rally, analysts said price gains were checked by expectations that US production will be stronger than many had previously anticipated.

Commodity brokerage INTL FCStone raised its estimate of the US 2017 corn yield to 166.9 bushels per acre (bpa), from 162.8 in its previous monthly report.

In other grains news, the most active wheat futures were up 0.2 percent to $4.35-1/4 a bushel after closing up 1.1 percent on Thursday. Wheat is little change for the week after closing down 1.7 percent in the previous week.

The most active soybean futures rose 0.3 percent to $9.47-3/4 a bushel after closing up 1.3 percent in the previous session. Soybeans are up nearly 0.5 percent for the week, the second straight weekly gain.