CHICAGO: Chicago wheat and soybean futures rose higher on Thursday as a weaker US dollar lent support to dollar-priced commodities and traders squared up their positions ahead of a key government report.

Meanwhile, corn futures firmed, supported by concerns about hot and dry weather stressing the US Midwest crop through its final stages of development.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.9% at $6.23-1/2 a bushel by 1551 GMT, while CBOT wheat added 1.4% to $8.10-3/4 a bushel.

Soybeans rose 1.28% to $14.46 a bushel.

Parts of the US Midwest received rain in recent days, but heat in the western regions of the farm belt is expected to continue stressing crops, including soybeans going through a key growth phase.

Such dry, hot weather is raising investor uncertainty about crop yield risks ahead of the US Department of Agriculture’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, set for Friday.

The government is expected to trim its outlook for US corn production, according to a Reuters survey of analysts.

But the question will be how much the government will lower those numbers, in a report that has fuelled volatile market moves in the past, said Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain.