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SYDNEY - U.S. wheat futures edged down on Thursday to retreat from a three-week high touched in the previous session, but losses were checked by concerns over planting delays in North America amid recent adverse weather.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.2 percent at $4.63-1/4 a bushel by 0056 GMT, having closed up 1.7 percent on Wednesday when prices marked their highest since Feb. 28 at $4.65 a bushel.
* The most active soybean futures were little changed at $9.06-1/4 a bushel, having firmed 0.1 percent on Wednesday.
* The most active corn futures were down 0.1 percent at $3.71-1/4 a bushel, having closed the last session up 0.1 percent.
* Heavy snows and the anticipation of floods in the U.S. northern Plains spring wheat belt, particularly in top producer North Dakota, have raised the risk of delays in planting the 2019 crop. Seeding normally begins in April.
* Soybean prices firmed on technical buying and hopes for progress in U.S. trade talks with China, the world's top importer of the oilseed.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar nursed heavy losses in Asia on Thursday after the Federal Reserve stunned markets by abandoning all plans to raise rates this year, a signal its three-year campaign to normalise policy might be at an end.
* U.S. crude prices rose on Wednesday to a 4-month high above $60 a barrel after U.S. government data showed tightening domestic oil supplies, but gains were capped by concerns over global economic growth due to the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.
* The S&P 500 and the Dow ended lower on Wednesday as interest rate-sensitive financial stocks dragged down the indexes after the Fed affirmed a dovish monetary policy stance.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0830 Indonesia 7-Day Reverse Repo March
0830 Indonesia Deposit Facility Rate March
0830 Indonesia Lending Facility Rate March
0930 UK Retail Sames MM Feb
0930 UK Retail Sales Ex-Fuel MM Feb
0930 UK Retail Sales YY Feb
1200 UK BOE Bank Rate March
1200 UK GB BOE QE Corp March
1230 US Initial Jobless Claims weekly
1500 EU Consumer Confidence Flash March
Germany General Council meeting of the ECB
Grains prices at 0056 GMT
Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI
CBOT wheat 463.75 -1.00 -0.22% +1.59% 475.23 57
CBOT corn 371.25 -0.25 -0.07% +0.00% 375.46 64
CBOT soy 906.25 0.25 +0.03% +0.25% 912.54 60
CBOT rice 10.95 $0.01 +0.09% +1.58% $10.58 78
WTI crude 60.17 -$0.06 -0.10% +1.93% $56.41 84
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.143 $0.002 +0.17% +0.71%
USD/AUD 0.7162 0.005 +0.66% +1.06%
Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
RSI 14, exponential
(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Joseph Radford)
© Reuters News 2019