Chicago corn, wheat, soybeans advance as U.S. dollar tumbles

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn, wheat and soybeans all advanced as U.S. dollar softened after the European Central Bank announced smaller-than-expected stimulus.

The most active corn contract for March delivery added 6.75 cents, or 1.82 percent, to settle at 3.77 U.S. dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery advanced 11.5 cents, or 2.46 percent, to close at 4.7875 dollars per bushel. January soybeans rose 5.25 cents, or 0.59 percent, to close at 8.975 dollars per bushel.

Analysts said all the three major agriculture commodities gained Thursday as a weaker U.S. dollar made them cheaper, boosting expectations that more corn, wheat and soybeans will be exported.

Additionally, short covering also supported wheat higher Thursday after it fell for six successive trading days, according to analysts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its Weekly Export Sales Report Thursday, saying corn, soybean sales dropped, while wheat sales advanced.

According to the report, corn net sales were 499,400 metric tons till the week of Nov. 26, which is down 76 percent from the previous week and 50 percent from the prior 4-week average; wheat net sales were 392,200 metric tons, up 29 percent from the previous week and 17 percent from the prior 4-week average; soybean net sales were 878,300 tons, down 25 percent from the previous week and 29 percent from the prior 4-week average.

USDA said Thursday in its daily export sale report that private exporters reported export sales of 132,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2015/2016 marketing year. Endit