Chicago wheat futures hit new lows amid hefty global grain supplies

CHICAGO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures extended losses for a third session on Tuesday, slumping to fresh lows as the most-active contract Wv1 hovered near prices not seen since late October, while bumper harvests in Argentina and Australia underscored hefty global supplies, market analysts said.

• Progress in talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine also hung over grain markets, analysts said. Ukraine is a major corn and wheat exporter.

• The Rosario Grains Exchange last week raised its production estimate for Argentina to 27.7 million metric tons from 24.5 million tons. Australia is on track for its third-biggest harvest.

• CBOT March soft red winter wheat WH26 settled down 11-1/4 cents at $5.09-1/2 per bushel. Earlier in the session, the contract touched a new contract low of $5.07-1/2 a bushel.

• Chicago wheat contracts across the board set fresh lows during the session. The same was true for Minneapolis spring wheat contracts.

• Minneapolis March spring wheat MWEH26 ended down 3-3/4 cents to finish at $5.65 a bushel.

• K.C. March hard red winter wheat KWH26 ended down 7 cents at $5.05 a bushel.

• Investors unwinding their positions and news that U.S. unemployment in November was higher than analyst expectations, driven largely by the loss of government positions, also weighed on commodity markets, traders and market analysts said.

• However, traders said, the impact of the data was somewhat capped because the government shutdown prevented data collection for the October jobless rate.

• While the Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Tuesday showed the unemployment rate at more than a four-year high of 4.6% last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics changed its methodology after the 43-day government shutdown prevented the collection of data from households.