CBOT wheat futures lower amid fund selling

CHICAGO, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures settled mixed on Thursday, with wheat falling more than 1 percent amid massive fund selling.

CBOT corn contract for May delivery was up 0.25 cent, or 0.07 percent to close at 3.74 U.S. dollars per bushel. May soybeans were up 2 cents, or 0.23 percent, to close at 8.895 dollars per bushel. May wheat was down 5 cents, or 1.06 percent, to settle at 4.645 dollars per bushel.

CBOT floor traders estimated that fund sold 4,300 contracts of wheat, 1,200 contracts of corn, while buying 1,900 contracts of soybeans.

Profit-taking dragged down CBOT wheat futures, which had hit one-month high earlier this week, said analysts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday confirmed that private exporters reported export sales of 120,000 metric tons of soft red winter wheat for delivery to Egypt, and 150,000 metric tons of hard red winter wheat for delivery to Iraq.

Another weekly export report for the period of March 15-21 also indicated sharp increase of U.S. wheat sales. But the upbeat data failed to boost wheat futures amid massive selling.

In the report, the USDA pegged net export sales of corn at 904,500 metric tons for 2018/19 marketing year, up 6 percent from the previous week and 5 percent from the prior four-week average.

Concerns over Midwest flooding impact, some bargain buying and talks about Chinese company's bidding for more U.S. soybeans helped support corn and soybean futures, said market watchers.