Chicago agricultural commodities settle mixed

CHICAGO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains closed mixed on Thursday, with corn futures jumping more than one percent as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lowered U.S. corn stockpiles in its monthly crop report.

CBOT soybeans futures were lower following the midday monthly USDA data that predicted larger-than-expected ending stocks, due in part to reduced export.

The most active corn contract for May delivery added 6.25 cents, or 1.61 percent to close at 3.935 dollars per bushel. May wheat delivery rose two cents, or 0.4 percent to close at 4.9925 dollars per bushel. May soybeans went down 1.25 cents, or 0.12 percent to close at 10.64 dollars per bushel.

In its monthly supply and demand report for March, the USDA pegged the U.S. 2017/18 corn ending stocks at 2.172 billion bushels, wheat at 1.034 billion bushels, and soybeans at 555 million bushels.

As for international market, Brazil's agricultural agency Conab on Wednesday boosted its soybean crop estimate by 1.5 million tons and trimmed its corn production estimate to 87.3 million tons for the 2017-18 marketing year. Enditem