Chicago agricultural commodities settle higher across board

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn, soybeans futures extended their gains on Thursday as wet weather may hurt production, while wheat rebounded after two successive big losses.

The most active corn contract for September delivery added 4.25 cents, or 1 percent, to close at 4.2875 U.S. dollars per bushel. September wheat delivery gained 0.5 cents, or 0.09 percent, to close at 5.78 dollars per bushel. November soybeans rose 27.5 cents, or 2.78 percent, to close at 10.1575 dollars per bushel.

The wet weather in some areas of U.S. Midwest continued to threaten the soybean production, helping soybeans extend gains, analysts said.

The United States Department of Agriculture said Thursday in its weekly export report that in the week of July 2, net sales of 41,400 metric tons for marketing year of 2014/2015 were up noticeably from the previous week. Some analysts noted that this also lifted soybeans.

While in the same report, wheat net sales of 345,900 metric tons were down 5 percent from the previous week, corn net sales of 535,200 metric tons were down 10 percent from the previous week. Large fund buying also lifted agricultural commodities across board. CBOT floor brokers reported that funds have bought 9,000 contracts of corn, 2,300 contracts of wheat, and 10,500 contracts of soybeans in the morning, according to AgResource, a Chicago- based agricultural commodity research firm. Endite