US wheat futures edged higher on Friday on a round of end-of-week short covering by investment funds, traders said. Corn futures were steady to firm, also receiving support from short covering. But the market had traded in negative territory due to plentiful stocks and weak export demand. Soyabean futures eased on technical sales as well as pressure from abundant US supplies and improving weather for crop development in South America.
"Most of Mato Grosso in the key center-west region of Brazil should continue to see rather scattered rains over the next two weeks, with heavier totals in Argentina and southern Brazil," said Bryce Knorr, senior editor at Farm Futures Magazine. "So far that is keeping weather concerns muted." Chicago Board of Trade soyabeans for January delivery were down 2-1/2 cents at $8.57-1/2 a bushel at 10:54 am CST (1654 GMT). CBOT December corn was unchanged at $3.64-1/4 a bushel and CBOT December wheat was up 1-1/2 cents at $4.92-1/4 a bushel.
For the week, soyabeans were on track to lose 0.1 percent, which would be their third straight week of declines. Wheat futures have fallen 0.8 percent this week while corn was up 1.7 percent. World stocks of all three commodities were plentiful. "As soon as you start talking stocks, you see there is too much globally so that prevents the market from rising far," Sebastien Poncelet of consultancy Agritel said.