Chicago Board of Trade corn futures inched up slightly on Friday as investors covered short positions after forecasts for warm, rainy weather in the heart of the US corn belt sent prices to multi-month lows early in the session. CBOT July corn settled the day up 1-1/2 cents to $3.77-3/4 a bushel, bouncing from an earlier four-month low of $3.73-1/2.
The contract shed 3.5 percent in the week, its second straight weekly drop. Weather took some of the bite out of corn futures earlier in the day, one trade analyst said, as warmer temperatures were expected to heat up the heart of the US corn belt - even as above-normal rainfall was expected in certain key growing areas.
But much of the trade spent the day jockeying for week-end positioning, as investors waiting to see what trade-related news would come out of the G7 summit. Traders also said they would also be turning their attention towards next Tuesday's monthly crop forecasts from the US Department of Agriculture.