* Favourable U.S. crop outlook keeps mood bearish
* New-crop soy eases on beneficial rains; spot August firms
* Wheat higher but little changed for week, near contract lows (Updates prices, adds comments; changes byline/dateline)
By Julie Ingwersen
CHICAGO, July 25 (Reuters) – U.S. corn futures firmed on bargain buying Friday but stayed on course for a fifth consecutive weekly loss as expectations of record yields in this autumn’s harvest continued to hang over the market, traders said.
Wheat rose on bargain buying as the market consolidated after contract highs this week, while soybeans were mixed.
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At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 12:12 p.m. CDT (1712 GMT), September corn was up 1/4 cent at $3.61-3/4 per bushel, after setting a contract low a day earlier at $3.56-1/2.
September wheat was up 7-1/4 cents at $5.36 a bushel. August soybeans were up 2-1/2 cents at $12.10 a bushel, with new-crop November down 2-1/4 cents at $10.82-1/2.
Corn prices fell to a four-year low this week on prospects for a bumper harvest. Growing weather has been optimal for corn during the crop’s crucial pollination phase this month.
A Reuters survey of 20 analysts pegged the U.S. corn yield at 170.5 bushels per acre, above the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forecast of 165.3 and the previous record yield of 164.7 from 2009.
The poll pegged the U.S. soybean yield at 45.5 bushels per acre, up from USDA’s forecast of 45.2 and the previous record of 44 set in 2009.
Adding pressure, storms overnight brought welcome moisture to the western Midwest.
“They got some rains in areas that were amongst the driest there, in southwestern Minnesota. They could use some rain, and they got it,” said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading in Fowler, Indiana.
The rains weighed on new-crop soybean futures as well, but front-month August rose on tight supplies of old-crop U.S. soybeans and relatively firm cash markets ahead of the contract’s delivery period, which starts next week.
The market is also continuing to digest sales of old-crop U.S. soybeans announced in the last week, analysts said.
Wheat advanced on short-covering after recent lows but the September contract was little changed for the week, rising about 3 cents, or 0.6 percent.
European traders continued to monitor quality indications from the harvest after heavy rain earlier in July raised the risk of damage to mature crops.
Prices at 12:07 p.m. CDT (1707 GMT)
LAST NET PCT
CHG CHG
CBOT corn 361.25 -1.25 -0.3%
CBOT soy 1206.25 5.25 0.4%
CBOT meal 394.30 2.80 0.7%
CBOT soyoil 36.25 0.05 0.1%
CBOT wheat 531.75 1.00 0.2%
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Gus Trompiz in
Paris; Editing by Richard Pullin, David Evans and Diane Craft)
