Wheat firm after deep losses, corn eases
SINGAPORE, April 9 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures inched higher on Thursday, supported by bargain buying after a near 3% drop in the previous session, when a U.S.-Iran ceasefire weighed on crude oil prices.
Corn prices slid, while soybeans were almost flat.
FUNDAMENTALS
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 added 0.2% to $5.81-1/4 a bushel, as of 0020 GMT. Soybeans eased quarter of a cent to 11.61-3/4 a bushel while corn Cv1 fell 0.1% to $4.46-3/4 a bushel.
Agricultural markets fell on Wednesday, led by wheat, as crude oil fell below $100 a barrel.
Gains in the wheat market are likely to be capped by improving U.S. crop prospects, with rains expected in the Plains this week, along with rising wheat output forecasts for Russia, the world's top exporter.
The decline in soybeans was limited by hopes that a mid-May meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could lead to renewed U.S. soybean export sales to China, by far the world's largest buyer of the oilseed.
Argentina's 2025/26 corn harvest should reach a record 67 million metric tons, the Rosario grains exchange said on Wednesday, raising its estimate from a prior 62 million tons thanks to farmers planting more fields with the crop than originally expected.
MARKET NEWS
Oil futures sank below $100 a barrel while equity and bond prices rallied sharply on Wednesday after the United States and Iran agreed on a two-week ceasefire, prompting hopes for a resumption of oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. MKTS/GLOB
