GRAINS-Wheat prices gain as dryness hits US winter crop; corn firms

SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures gained some ground on Tuesday, with prices underpinned by worries over dry weather threatening to reduce U.S. winter crop yields.

Corn rose on support from wet weather delaying field work in the U.S. Midwest, while soybeans inched higher.

FUNDAMENTALS

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 rose 0.3% to $5.54 a bushel, as of 0136 GMT, having dropped nearly 2% in the previous session. Corn Cv1 added 0.2% to $4.82-1/2 a bushel and soybeans Sv1 rose 0.5% to $10.46-1/2 a bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 45% of winter wheat crops in good or excellent condition, down from half of the crop in that condition a year ago, with dryness hitting the U.S. Plains. Analysts on average expected a rating of 47%, which would have been unchanged from a week earlier.

Wet weather forecast in parts of the U.S. Midwest is likely to slow corn planting, even as farmers seeded their crops faster than normal last week, data showed on Monday.

Farmers planted 12% of the nation's corn crop by April 20, topping the five-year average of 10%, the USDA said in a weekly crop progress report. Growers planted 8% of the soybean crop, above the five-year average of 5%.

Russian wheat export prices dropped last week, partly in response to general market optimism about a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, analysts said.

The Sovecon consultancy estimated prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content at between $250 and $252 a ton free-on-board (FOB), compared with $250-$253 last week.

MARKET NEWS

Asian stock markets fought to hold their footing on Tuesday after a furious flight from U.S. assets undermined Wall Street and the dollar, while concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve piled fresh pressure on Treasuries. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1400 EU Consumer Confid. Flash Apr