GRAINS-Soybeans rise for second session on China demand hopes

SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures gained more ground on Wednesday, with prices inching close to last week's highest in two-and-a-half months on expectations of higher Chinese demand for U.S. cargoes.

Wheat ticked up, recouping some of last session's losses, although gains were curbed by ample global supplies, while corn firmed, having closed lower on Tuesday.

FUNDAMENTALS

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 added 0.5% to $11.39-1/4 a bushel, as of 0116 GMT, not far from last week's highest since early December at $11.42 a bushel.

Wheat Wv1 rose 0.7% to $5.41-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 gained 0.3% at $4.27-1/2 a bushel.

Soybeans rallied earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump said that China is considering buying an additional 8 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, and a report in the South China Morning Post said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could extend their countries' trade truce for as long as a year.

The U.S. soybean crush in January reached its highest level on record for the first month of the year, while soyoil stocks ballooned to their largest level since April 2023, according to monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data issued on Tuesday.

However, demand for soybeans and other farm goods is likely to remain subdued this week, with the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia and the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week.

In wheat, news on Friday of a 3 million ton increase to consultancy IKAR's forecast for Russia's 2026 wheat crop, plus the announcement that India will allow the export of 2.5 million tons of wheat, drew attention back to abundant global supplies.

MARKET NEWS

Wall Street stocks eked out nominal gains on Tuesday as investors continued to wrestle with the pros and cons of the artificial intelligence boom, while gold slid and crude dipped as nuclear talks progressed between the United States and Iran. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0700 UK Core CPI YY Jan

0700 UK CPI YY Jan

0700 UK CPI Services MM, YY Jan

0745 France CPI (EU Norm) Final MM, YY Jan

0745 France CPI MM, YY NSA Jan

1330 US Durable Goods Dec

1330 US Housing Starts Number Dec

1415 US Industrial Production MM Jan

1900 US Federal Open Market Committee issues minutes from its meeting of January 27-28