PARIS/JAKARTA: Chicago wheat, corn and soybean futures regained ground on Thursday after losses this week on favourable crop prospects, and as investors adjusted positions before US inflation data and Brazilian and US crop forecasts.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 1.3% at $5.69 a bushel by 1031 GMT, while CBOT corn rose 0.7% to $4.10-1/4 a bushel, after a near two-week low in the previous session.
CBOT soybeans were up 0.4% at $10.71 a bushel, after falling to another near four-year low. Financial markets are bracing for a US consumer price inflation (CPI) reading on Thursday that will provide another pointer to possible interest rate cuts.
Grain markets will also get an update on Brazilian crops from monthly forecasts from the Conab agency on Thursday before the US Department of Agriculture publishes US and world supply and demand forecasts on Friday.
“Today’s CPI inflation data is July’s no. 1 most important macro data point,” Peak Trading Research said on Friday. “After today’s CPI data, it’s then all eyes on Friday’s USDA report.”
Traders continued to monitor weather charts as the northern hemisphere growing season enters its key stages.
In the United States, rapid wheat harvest progress and good growing conditions for corn and soybeans have weighed on Chicago prices. Traders were still watching for signs of dryness as corn approaches its pollination period.
Tepid demand has also curbed grain prices, though China has booked its first purchases of US soybeans for the 2024/25 marketing year, buying 132,000 metric tons of the oilseed.
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