US wheat, corn and soyabean futures edged higher on Tuesday as investors used the previous session's sharp declines to take profits on bearish bets they had placed on the commodities sector, traders said. "Grain futures are trying to rebound this morning following Monday's sharp losses," Bryce Knorr, senior editor at Farm Futures Magazine, said in a research note. "The bounce comes despite more dark clouds hanging over Wall Street.
Concerns about a weaker global economy cutting into demand for commodities limited the buying. Those concerns had sent the most-actively traded Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat contract to its lowest in 5-1/2 years on Monday. CBOT March wheat was up 4-3/4 cents at $4.63 a bushel at 10:58 am CST (1658 GMT) on Tuesday. CBOT March corn, which hit a 6-1/2-month low on Monday, was 2-1/2 cents higher at $3.54 a bushel.
CBOT March soyabeans were up 4-1/2 cents at $8.60-1/2 a bushel. Regulatory data released on Monday afternoon showed that large speculators held their biggest short positions on record in both wheat and soyabeans. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly report also showed that the non-commercial traders also boosted their bearish bets in soyabeans by 44 percent as 2015 came to a close. A bleak fundamental picture, highlighted by weakening US exports and good crop weather in South America raising expectations for a bumper harvest there, kept the gains in check. Rain in center-west and northern Brazil this week should ease concerns about the soya crop before harvesting, meteorologists said on Monday.