CBOT corn, wheat settle higher amid massive buying

CHICAGO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures settled mixed on Thursday, with corn and wheat higher amid massive buying.

CBOT floor brokers estimated that funds bought 6,000 contracts of corn, 5,500 contracts of wheat, and 4,100 contracts of soybeans.

At the end of the session, the most active corn contract for May delivery was up 3.75 cents, or 1.02 percent, to close at 3.7025 dollars per bushel. May wheat was up 5.5 cents, or 1.23 percent, to settle at 4.5275 dollars per bushel. May soybeans were down 2.5 cents, or 0.28 percent, to close at 8.985 dollars per bushel.

Fund buying, including short covering and bargain buying, pushed up CBOT wheat futures, after they plunged more than 1 percent in the previous session, said market watchers.

CBOT soybeans retreated on Thursday following two days of gains, amid lack of news concerning the U.S.-China trade talks.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday released its weekly export sales report for the period of March 1-7, indicating relatively weak corn and wheat sales, but strong soybean performance.

Private exporters reported the USDA a total of 846,600 metric tons in corn sales, compared with the trade's expectations of between 800,000 and 1,500,000 metric tons.

U.S. wheat sales were at 346,000 metric tons, versus the trade's expectations of between 400,000 and 750,000 metric tons.

Soybeans export sales were at 1,914,900 metric tons, while the trade's expectations were between 1.1 million and 2.0 million metric tons.