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CHICAGO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close lower on Friday with soybean futures weakening on a round of technical selling after failing to push through their weekly high during the overnight trading session.
Corn and wheat futures also were trading lower, pressured by abundant global supplies and some end-of-week profit taking. Both corn and wheat were still on track to post weekly gains.
The most active corn contract for March delivery fell 2.25 cents, or 0.61 percent, to 3.6525 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery fell 4.25 cents, or 0.98 percent, to 4.3025 dollars per bushel. March soybeans dropped 10.25 cents, or 0.99 percent, to 10.25 dollars per bushel.
Wheat faced additional headwinds from a benign weather outlook for crop development, adding to concerns about strong harvests in the coming months providing additional supplies for an already robust world stockpile.
"There are no major weather scares at present," said David Sheppard, managing director of UK merchant Gleadell.
For the week, wheat futures have risen 3 percent. They had posted gains in four of the previous five weeks.
The soybean market has been weighed down by improving crop weather in Argentina and expectations for a record crop in Brazil.
INTL FCStone on Thursday raised its estimate for Brazil's 2016/17 soybean crop to 104.08 million tonnes from a previous projection of 102.76 million.
A large and early Brazilian crop is expected to curb demand for U.S. Soybeans.
