BEIJING: Chicago corn futures rose for a second straight session on Thursday, support by tightening global stocks, while soybeans gained on bargain-hunting after weak Chinese demand and higher supply outlook drove prices lower in the previous session.

Wheat futures slipped for a fifth straight session amid a lack of bullish news, even as traders monitored freeze risks to wheat crops in the U.S. Plains and Black Sea region.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gained 0.27% to $10.3 a bushel by 0145 GMT after two sessions of declines.

* The Chicago corn contract gained 0.1% to $4.90-6/8 a bushel, up for a second session on strong demand, while wheat dropped 0.09% to $5.74 a bushel.

* In its monthly report on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture kept U.S. soybean and corn end-of-season supply forecasts unchanged, contrary to analyst expectations, and lowered Argentina's corn and soybean production outlook due to hot, dry weather.

* Argentina's 2024/25 soybean crop is forecast at 47.5 million metric tons, while the corn crop estimate is lowered to 46 million tons, down 4% from the previous forecast, according to the Rosario grains exchange.

* Heavy rains in Argentina's key agricultural regions offered relief to soy and corn crops, the exchange said.

* Global soybean supplies are expected to rise due to Brazil's bumper crop.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 130,320 metric tons of U.S. corn and 120,000 tons of U.S. soybeans for shipment to unknown destinations in the 2024/25 marketing year.

* Traders monitored cold fronts in the U.S. Plains and Black Sea; snow could protect Midwest wheat, but dryness in the Southern Plains may stress hard red winter wheat.

* Commodity funds were net buyers of corn on Wednesday but net sellers of soybean, soyoil, soymeal, and wheat futures.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 Germany HICP Final YY Jan 0700 UK GDP Est 3M/3M, GDP Estimate MM, GDP Estimate YY Dec 0700 UK Services MM, Services YY Dec 0700 UK Manufacturing Output MM Dec 0700 UK GDP Prelim QQ, GDP Prelim YY Q4 1330 US Initial Jobless Clm 8 Feb, w/e 1330 US PPI Machine Manuf'ing Jan

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)