Chicago agricultural commodities close mixed

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and wheat retreated Thursday, while soybeans extended gains for three days in a row.

The most active corn contract for July delivery declined 10 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at 3.8975 dollars per bushel. July wheat delivery shed 8.75 cents, or 1.71 percent, to close at 5.035 dollars per bushel. July soybeans added 8.5 cents, or 0.83 percent, to close at 10.275 dollars per bushel.

Analysts said that corn and wheat retreated from their previous gains on profit taking as corn and wheat climbed up sharply before Thursday. CBOT brokers estimated that funds have sold 9,000 contracts of corn and 6,700 contracts of wheat before midday, said AgResource, a Chicago-based agriculture consultancy, in its daily commentary.

Soybeans, however, settled higher Thursday, the crop's third consecutive trading day as rains in Argentina have prompted expectations of production declines there, according to analysts.

Also, official export data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) helped soybeans extend gains. USDA said in the highlights of its Weekly Export Sales Report that net sales of the crop was 407,700 metric tons in the week of April 18 for 2015/2016 marketing year, which were up 7 percent from the previous week and 15 percent from the prior 4-week average.

Corn net sales were 1,202,800 metric tons, up 6 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from the prior 4-week average. Private exporters sold 240,000 metric tons of corn to Japan, according to USDA's daily export sales report. Endit