Corn down 2-4 cents, wheat down 1-3 cents, soy steady-down 2 cents

CHICAGO: Following are US trade expectations for the opening of grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Thursday.

NOTE: Trade awaits the release of the US Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report at 11 a.m. CST (1700 GMT).

WHEAT - Down 1 cent to 3 cents per bushel

* Market under pressure from poor export prospects, ongoing harvest of US winter wheat crop but trade expected to be thin ahead of WASDE report.

* USDA reported export sales of wheat at 284,400 tonnes in the latest week, near the low end of forecasts that ranged from 250,000 tonnes to 550,000 tonnes.

* CBOT September soft red winter wheat contract last traded down 1-1/2 cents at $5.03-1/4 a bushel. K.C. hard red winter wheat for September delivery was 1-3/4 cents lower at $4.39-3/4 a bushel and MGEX September spring wheat was down 1-3/4 cents at $5.27 a bushel.

CORN - Down 2 cents to 4 cents per bushel

* Technical pressure weighs on the corn market. Concerns about crop shortfalls in the United States expected to keep declines in check.

* Benchmark CBOT December corn futures fell below 10-day and 40-day moving averages during overnight trading session.

* Export sales of corn were 397,000 tonnes. Analysts' forecasts for the week had ranged from 250,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes.

* CBOT December corn futures last traded down 3-1/2 cents at $4.36 a bushel.

SOYBEANS - Steady to down 2 cents per bushel

* Most-active soybean futures contract hit 10-day high overnight before easing as traders squared positions ahead of USDA report.

* Benchmark CBOT November soybean contract found support at 100-day moving average during overnight trading.

* Weekly soybean export sales totaled 261,700 tonnes, near the low end of forecasts for 250,000 tonnes to 750,000 tonnes.

* CBOT November soybean futures last traded down 3/4 cent at $9.12.