GRAINS-Wheat holds just above 5-year lows amid speculator selling

CANBERRA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures steadied just above five-year lows on Wednesday, after plunging around 7% in the last two weeks as seasonal supply pressure from Northern Hemisphere harvests and falling corn prices triggered selling by speculators.

Corn and soybean futures inched lower and were near multi-month lows amid expectations of large U.S. production and well-supplied global markets.

FUNDAMENTALS

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was up 0.1% at $5.08-1/2 a bushel at 0028 GMT. Prices fell to a five-year low of $5.06-1/4 in May.

CBOT corn Cv1 rose 0.1% to $4.01-1/2 a bushel and soybeans Sv1 were up 0.1% at $9.90 a bushel.

With Northern Hemisphere harvests in full swing, recent rainfall has boosted the production outlook in late harvesters Canada, Australia, and Argentina.

Speculators are betting on further price falls for CBOT wheat, corn, and soybeans. Funds have been net sellers of Chicago wheat for the last six trading sessions, traders say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday issued condition ratings for U.S. corn and soy crops that were the highest in years, bolstering expectations of large U.S. production.

Commodity brokerage StoneX on Monday said it expected the United States to produce 16.323 billion bushels of corn this year, above the USDA's latest estimate.

Soybeans received some support from larger-than-expected weekly U.S. export inspections but a lack of demand from top importer China continues to hang over the market.

MARKETS NEWS

Wall Street stock indexes fell on Tuesday as investors weighed tariff concerns and weaker than expected U.S. economic data, while equities in Europe and Asia notched gains. MKTS/GLOB