Chicago agricultural commodities settle mixed

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close mixed on Wednesday, with soybean,corn futures dropping while wheat prices rising.

The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 0.5 cents, or 0.15 percent, to 3.4 dollars per bushel. December wheat delivery rose 1.75 cents, or 0.43 percent, to 4.0775 dollars per bushel. November soybeans dropped 14.25 cents, or 1.44 percent, to 9.755 dollars per bushel.

Soybeans notched the biggest decline, pressured by profit taking after a streak of gains and by weakness on the cash market.

Traders said farmers in parts of the Midwest were aggressive sellers of recently harvested soybeans, causing commercial operators to hedge cash market deals with sales in the futures market. Cash market bids for corn also weakened as many growers began harvest.

Falling soybean prices pressured the corn market, which recently has been buoyed by more variable yield reports. Despite some reports of weaker-than-expected crop yields, Doug Bergman of RCM Asset Management said yields this year still could near records, meaning U.S. farmers will harvest a sizeable corn crop.

Wheat futures rose slightly, with short-covering supporting prices. Wheat also received support from the Egyptian government's decision to reverse its zero-tolerance policy on the common grain fungus ergot, which raised hopes of a resumption of deals by the world's top buyer of the grain.

On Wednesday, the USDA said private exporters had booked sales of 145,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to Morocco during the 2016-17 season.

Meanwhile, Egypt said on Wednesday it was reinstating a 0.05 percent tolerance level for ergot. The country, which issued a fresh tender for supplies after the market closed, had seen its imports grind to a halt since it imposed a ban on ergot last month. Endit