SYDNEY, May 28 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat hit a near three-month low on Wednesday, with farmers planting the spring crop faster than expected due to favourable weather.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Chicago Board of Trade July wheat dropped 0.39 percent to $6.38-1/2 a bushel, just shy of the session low of $6.37-1/4 – the weakest since March 4. Wheat closed down 1 percent on Tuesday.

* July corn fell 0.21 percent to $4.68-3/4 a bushel, after earlier dropping as far as $4.68-1/2 – the lowest since March 3. Corn declined 1.7 percent in the previous session.

* July soybeans rose 0.27 percent to $14.92-3/4 a bushel, having slid 1.8 percent on Tuesday.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress report that soybean planting was a better-than-expected 59 percent complete as of May 25, topping the late-May five-year average of 56 percent and up 26 percentage points from a week ago.

* Spring wheat planting was a better-than-expected 74 percent complete, still behind the five-year average of 82 percent but topping analysts forecasts for 65 percent. A week ago, just 49 percent of the crop was planted.

* U.S. winter wheat was rated 31 percent good to excellent as of May 25, up 2 percentage points from a week earlier. Analysts had predicted good-to-excellent ratings of 30 percent.

* The USDA also said that corn planting was 88 percent complete as of May 25, matching analysts’ expectations as well as the five-year average.

* The USDA showed export inspections of soybeans and wheat near the low end of analyst estimates while inspections of corn were beat expectations.

MARKET NEWS

* The U.S. dollar held near an eight-week peak against a basket of major currencies early on Wednesday, having edged up on the back of encouraging U.S. data and another record high on Wall Street.

* Crude oil futures edged lower on Tuesday as traders took profits after a holiday weekend, with prices supported by violence in Ukraine and expectations for a draw on U.S. crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub.

* U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as the S&P 500 scored a second straight record close, buoyed by the latest round of merger activity and as expectations.

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0600 Germany

Import prices

April

0645 France

Consumer spending

April

0645 France

Producer prices

April

0755 Germany

Unemployment rate

May

0800 Euro zone

M3 money supply

April

0900 Euro zone

Business climate

May

1145 U.S.

Weekly ICSC chain store sales

Grains prices at 0056 GMT Contract

Last

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

638.50

-2.50 -0.39%

-2.15%

694.87 12 CBOT corn

468.75

-1.00 -0.21%

-1.94%

498.18 25 CBOT soy

1492.75

4.00 +0.27%

-1.50%

1484.03 50 CBOT rice

$15.07 -$0.02 -0.13%

-1.15%

$15.38 28 WTI crude

$104.18

$0.07 +0.07%

-0.16%

$101.90 66 Currencies

Euro/dlr

$1.363 $0.000 -0.02%

-0.12% USD/AUD

0.926

0.000 +0.01%

+0.24% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Colin Packham)