CHICAGO - U.S. wheat surged more than 3 percent on Thursday, snapping a six-session losing streak as investors covered their short positions and the dollar tumbled after the European Central Bank took steps to fight low inflation.
Corn futures also jumped, while soybeans shook off earlier losses to turn narrowly higher at the Chicago Board of Trade.
The higher prices came despite weekly U.S. export sales that largely missed analysts' expectations. U.S. wheat and corn are more expensive than other global supplies for shipments early in 2016, while top global soy importer China slowed its pace of buying slightly, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed.
"It's an outside-market day with the dollar just tanking," said Futures International analyst Terry Reilly. "Traders are getting out of their positions from last week and early this week. With the lack of export interest in (U.S.) wheat, there's not much else that's driving this market."
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Wheat futures were on pace of their biggest daily gains in more than a month, recovering from their worst skid since July. Most-active CBOT wheat for March delivery was up 16 cents at $4.83-1/4 per bushel, even as prices still hovered near a 5-1/2 year low.
CBOT March corn was up 6-3/4 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $3.77 per bushel, the highest level in nearly a month. Soybeans for January delivery had gained 1 cent to $8.96 per bushel as of 11:20 a.m. CST (1720 GMT).
The dollar fell more than 1 percent against a basket of currencies after reaching a 12-year high on Wednesday. It lost ground against the euro after the ECB's slight cut to its deposit rate was seen as disappointing to investors who expected more aggressive stimulus measures.
Weekly U.S. soybean sales of 878,300 tons were down 25 percent from the previous week and were at the low end of trade estimates ranging from 800,000 to 1.2 million tons, USDA data showed.
Weekly wheat sales of 392,200 tons were up 29 percent from the previous week and 17 percent from the prior 4-week average. Corn sales stood at 499,400 tons, down 76 percent from the previous week.
