PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans, corn and wheat edged down on Monday as an advancing Midwest harvest and rain relief expected in other grain belts worldwide helped maintain pressure on prices after they retreated from multi-week highs on Friday.

A subdued tone on wider financial markets also hung over grains, as investors monitored developments in Israel’s war with Palestinian group Hamas, and weighed the prospect of US interest rates being sustained by a strong US economy.

The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was 0.9% down at $12.90 a bushel, after pulling back from a one-month peak on Friday.

Corn, which on Friday hit a 2-1/2 month top before closing lower, was off 0.4% at $4.93-1/2 a bushel. CBOT wheat was 0.3% lower at $5.84-1/2 a bushel, moving back further from Friday’s one-month high.

Some dry parts of central and northern Brazil, where soybean planting and river transport have been hampered, could see light rain this week followed by heavier showers next week, weather forecasts showed.

“Central Brazil is still dry but should see some much-needed rains this week,” Peak Trading Research said in a note. “US harvest is rolling along with no major issues.”

The market will get an update on US harvest progress from a weekly government report later on Monday.