SYDNEY, Aug 21 (Reuters) – U.S. soybean futures edged higher for the first time in three sessions on Thursday, rebounding from a contract low, but gains were checked as a widely watched U.S. crop tour boosted the outlook for supply.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans rose 0.1 percent to $10.39 a bushel, having slid 1.4 percent on Wednesday when the contract hit a contract low of $10.35 a bushel.

* December corn dropped 0.1 percent to $3.67-1/4 a bushel, having slid 1.3 percent in the previous session.

* December wheat fell 0.32 percent to $5.48-1/4 a bushel, having closed down 1.5 percent on Wednesday.

* The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour on Wednesday projected the Illinois corn yield at a record 196.96 bushels per acre (bpa), up from the tour average of 170.48 bpa last year and the three-year tour average of 149.36.

* The crop tour, which does not estimate soybean yields, pegged the average number of soybean pods in a 3-by-3-foot area in Illinois at 1,299.17, up both from last year’s estimate of 1,115.97 and the three-year tour average of 1,085.35.

* Reports from the tour have fueled expectations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will raise its corn and soy yield estimates in the coming months. The USDA has already predicted record-large harvests.

* Pro Farmer’s editors will release their estimates of total U.S. crop production on Friday.

* The USDA will on Thursday issue its weekly U.S. export sales data. Analysts estimate U.S. wheat sales last week were 350,000 to 500,000 tonnes, corn sales were 650,000 to 1 million tonnes, and soybean sales were 850,000 to 1.15 million tonnes.

MARKET NEWS

* The euro got off to an unusually quiet start in Asia on Monday, having posted its worst weekly performance in three months, as investors await more developments and ratings downgrades from Europe.

* Oil edged lower in volatile trading on Friday, posting a second consecutive weekly loss as caution about Europe’s debt crisis and year-end positioning continued to spark selling into rallies.

* A rally in U.S. stocks fizzled, leaving major indexes with modest gains on Friday, as Wall Street was torn between hope that U.S. economic data signals better times ahead and fear Europe’s debt crisis will engulf world economies.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0145 China

HSBC manufacturing PMI flash

Aug

0700 France

Markit manufacturing PMI flash

Aug

0730 Germany

Markit manufacturing PMI flash

Aug

0800 Euro zone

Markit manufacturing PMI flash

Aug

1230 U.S.

Weekly jobless claims

1345 U.S.

Markit manufacturing PMI flash

Aug

1400 Euro zone

Consumer confidence

Aug

1400 U.S.

Existing home sales

July

1400 U.S.

Philly Fed business index

Aug

Grains prices at 0053 GMT Contract

Last

Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat

548.25

-1.75 -0.32%

-1.48%

549.27 45 CBOT corn

367.25

-0.25 -0.07%

-1.34%

372.98 45 CBOT soy

1039.00

1.00 +0.10%

-1.31%

1073.01 29 CBOT rice

$12.92 -$0.01 -0.12%

-0.35%

$13.04 57 WTI crude

$93.42 -$0.03 -0.03%

-1.12%

$99.28 32 Currencies

Euro/dlr

$1.326 $0.000 -0.02%

-0.47% USD/AUD

0.928 -0.001 -0.06%

-0.20% 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)