Chicago corn futures retreat as Midwest weather outlook improves

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures turned lower on Thursday, after reaching a near one-year high a day earlier, as forecasts for improved planting weather in the U.S. Midwest weighed on prices, market analysts said.

• Pressure from the CBOT wheat market also spilled over onto corn futures during the day's session, as did weakness in the oil market.

• CBOT July corn CN26 settled down 3 cents at $4.74-3/4 a bushel, after rallying to a near one-year high on Wednesday.

• Global oil prices LCOc1 jumped to a four-year high of more than $126 a barrel on Thursday on concerns that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran could worsen and lead to a protracted Middle East supply disruption that could hurt global economic growth, but later retreated. O/R

• The strength of oil prices, which have risen because of unprecedented supply disruption linked to the Iran war, has buoyed the soy complex and corn futures, as soybeans and corn are feedstocks for biofuel production.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net export sales of old-crop U.S. corn in the week ended April 23 at 1,597,800 metric tons, in line with trade expectations for 1,000,000 to 1,900,000 tons.

• Early planting of U.S. corn has progressed well, and forecasts for drier weather for the U.S. Corn Belt through this weekend eased some market concerns that a spate of storms in the Midwest could delay seeding in some areas, market analysts said.

• Commodity funds were net sellers of corn, traders said on Wednesday. CBOT/FUNDS