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CHICAGO, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures settle higher Friday with soybean and corn futures rising 1 percent, buoyed by technical buying and concerns over dry growing conditions in Argentina.
The most active corn contract for March delivery rose 6 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 3.595 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery added 8 cents, or 1.96 percent, to 4.1625 dollars per bushel. January soybeans added 10.5 cents, or 1.02 percent, to 10.375 dollars per bushel.
Wheat futures rallied with all three commodities adding to gains late in the session.
The gains came after USDA in a monthly report left U.S. soybean, corn and wheat stockpile estimates unchanged and hiked global stockpiles to account for bigger corn production in Brazil and wheat output in Australia.
The USDA put U.S. soybean ending stocks at 480 million bushels, unchanged from its estimate in November and 10 million bushels above the analysts' average estimate from a Reuters survey.
U.S. corn ending stocks were seen at 2.403 billion bushels, 10 million below analysts' estimates, with U.S. wheat pegged at 1.143 billion bushels, 4 million above market expectations.
The USDA's December monthly outlook typically has fewer changes than data due in January, which will include final U.S. crop production figures for the 2016-17 growing season as well as quarterly grain stocks.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the close of trading said speculative investors, including hedge funds, increased their net short or bearish positions in CBOT corn and wheat futures and slashed their net long in soybeans in the week ended Dec. 6.
