CHICAGO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains closed lower on Thursday despite upbeat export sales data.
The most active corn contract for March delivery fell 1.25 cents, or 0.35 percent, to settle at 3.515 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery went down 3.75 cents, or 0.88 percent, to 4.215 dollars per bushel. January soybeans lost 10.75 cents, or 1.07 percent, to close at 9.92 dollars per bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its weekly export sales report on Thursday, showing that soybean sales beat trade expectations.
USDA put weekly soybeans sales at 2.08 million metric tons, well above the trade's expectations between 900,000 and 1.7 million metric tons.
However, the export data failed to support CBOT soybeans, which had posted sharp gains earlier this week amid concerns over dry weather forecasts for Argentina and southern Brazil.
Profit-taking further trimmed the gains of soybeans, sending the futures again below the ten-dollar-per-bushel level.
