GRAINS-Chicago grains firm as traders gauge China purchases

By Renee Hickman

CHICAGO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures ticked up on Wednesday as traders eyed Chinese purchases of U.S. beans under a bilateral trade truce and adjusted positions before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, analysts said.

The oilseed market remained underpinned by indications of Chinese demand, with traders telling Reuters that China bought at least 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans since Tuesday. That followed a call on Monday between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, during which Trump said he had pressed Xi to accelerate and increase Beijing's purchases of U.S. goods.

Doubts that Beijing will buy the 12 million metric tons cited by Washington as an agreed target for the end of December kept a lid on the market however.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 8-1/2 cents at $11.33-1/4 a bushel at 12:03 a.m. CST (1803 GMT).

In cereals, CBOT wheat Wv1 rose 4-1/4 cents at $5.43-1/2 a bushel and CBOT corn Cv1 climbed 7-1/2 cents to $4.45-3/4 a bushel.

The Chicago Board of Trade will close for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and trading is expected to be relatively thin during a shortened session on Friday.

The corn market also firmed as traders considered China's U.S. soybean purchases, said Soderberg.

"Could China be sniffing around now for a little bit of U.S. corn? Maybe we'll hear rumors of that to justify today's strength," he said.

In wheat, a sharp fall in exports from Ukraine due to a rain-delayed harvest and Russian strikes on railway infrastructure supported futures as uncertainty continued about the prospects for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

Meanwhile, falling Russian prices, harvesting in Argentina and Australia, and results from a Saudi import tender on Monday have kept attention on strong competition in a well-supplied market.