GRAINS-Corn eases for second day on supply pressure
SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures lost more ground on Thursday with prices being pressured by expectations of a bumper U.S. harvest and a strong dollar. Wheat was largely unchanged after edging lower in the previous session. FUNDAMENTALS * Prices for wheat, corn and soybeans have lost ground since a bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture monthly crop report last Friday predicted bigger-than-expected U.S. soybean and corn harvests as well as larger global wheat supplies. * A strong U.S. dollar, which makes the greenback-priced commodities expensive for overseas buyers, is weighing on well-supplied global agricultural markets. * The dollar held near a 13-month peak on Thursday as political turmoil in Turkey and concerns about China's economic health continued to support safe-haven assets and weighed on emerging market currencies. * Grain producers in the Black Sea region have been gaining share of the global market. * Asian and Middle East countries were the leading buyers of Ukrainian wheat in July, the first month of the new 2018/19 season, data by analyst UkrAgroConsult showed on Wednesday. * Ukraine is among the world's major wheat exporters and sold 17.2 million tonnes of wheat abroad in the previous 2017/18 season. * Top global wheat buyer Egypt on Tuesday bought 420,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia and Romania in a tender. * U.S. processors crushed a bigger-than-expected 167.733 million bushels of soybeans during July, their second-largest monthly total ever, the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) said on Wednesday. * Strong profit margins, stemming from low soybean acquisition costs, encouraged processors to boost their crushing pace during the month. * The market is awaiting weekly export sales data from the USDA due to be released later on Thursday amid continuing trade dispute between the United States and China. * Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago Board of Trade soybean, wheat, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday and net buyers of corn futures, traders said. MARKET NEWS * Equities around the world took a dive led by emerging market stocks on Wednesday and commodities tumbled as investors looked for safety due to worries about China and Turkey. DATA AHEAD (GMT) 0600 Germany Wholesale price index July 0830 UK Retail sales July 0900 Euro zone Eurostat trade June 1230 U.S. Housing starts July 1230 U.S. Building permits July 1230 U.S. Weekly jobless claims 1230 U.S. Philly Fed business index Aug Grains prices at 0112 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 552.00 0.25 +0.05% +1.89% 528.73 40 CBOT corn 375.50 -0.50 -0.13% -0.27% 372.03 46 CBOT soy 870.50 1.50 +0.17% -1.05% 876.76 43 CBOT rice 10.32 -$0.01 -0.10% +1.18% $11.52 19 WTI crude 64.78 -$0.23 -0.35% -3.37% $69.00 25 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.134 $0.000 +0.01% +0.02% USD/AUD 0.7234 0.000 -0.04% -0.14% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Naveen Thukral, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
