CBOT corn ends narrowly mixed as US harvest expands

CHICAGO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended narrowly mixed on Friday as short-covering and inter-market spreading offset harvest pressure and spillover weakness from soybeans, brokers said.

• CBOT December corn CZ25 settled up 1/4 cent at $4.24 per bushel while March corn CH26 ended down 1/4 cent at $4.41-1/4.

• For the week, the benchmark December corn contract fell 6 cents a bushel or 1.4%.

• Harvest activity is expanding in the U.S. Midwest. Unusually warm temperatures this week are pushing crops toward maturity, the Department of Agriculture said in a daily weather note.

• Traders are monitoring early yield reports to gauge the impact of crop diseases and late-summer dryness that could prompt the USDA to lower its yield estimates next month.

• The USDA, under its daily export reporting rules, confirmed private sales of 206,460 metric tons of U.S. corn to undisclosed destinations.

• S&P Global Commodity Insights projected that U.S. farmers would plant 94.5 million acres of corn next year, down 4.3% from this year, and 84 million acres of soybeans, up 3.6%, according to a report from the firm seen by Reuters.