CHICAGO: Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended lower on Monday as technical selling and weakening cash markets overshadowed a larger-than-expected drop in the US Department of Agriculture's forecast of US corn ending stocks, traders said.

Market's inability to rally on bullish USDA stocks data viewed as a bearish signal.

After USDA's monthly report, March corn reached $4.49 a bushel, the highest spot price in four months, before turning lower. Support held at $4.40.

Corn gained relative to soybeans on inter-market spreads.

USDA lowered its forecast of US 2013/14 corn ending stocks to 1.481 billion bushels, below a range of trade estimates and down from 1.631 billion in January. The cut reflected a 150-million bushel increase in USDA's US corn export estimate.

Cash bids for corn shipped by barge to the US Gulf were steady to lower early on Monday amid adequate supplies following recent active farmer selling.

USDA reported export inspections of US corn in the latest week at 695,181 tonnes, above a range of trade estimates for 482,625 to 609,632 tonnes. USDA this week began reporting the figures in tonnes instead of bushels.