GRAINS-Soybeans jump to one-week high on Argentina weather; wheat firms

SINGAPORE, March 21 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures gained more ground on Thursday to hit a one-week high, as excessive rains in Argentina raised worries over supplies and prompted traders to cover short positions. Wheat rose for a third session in four, and corn bounced back. FUNDAMENTALS The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) (Sv1) rose 0.5% to $12.15-1⁄2 a bushel, the highest since March 14. The contract jumped 2% on Wednesday. Wheat (Wv1) gained 0.9% at $5.49-3⁄4 a bushel and corn (Cv1) climbed 0.5% to $4.41 a bushel. A new front of heavy rains over key grains regions of Argentina could be “very damaging” to the South American country’s current soybean and corn crops and could dent production, a local grains exchange and a weather expert said on Wednesday. Traders are also covering short positions, analysts said, ahead of the U.S. March 28 Prospective Plantings and quarterly stocks reports, which have a history of jolting markets. Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soymeal, soyoil and corn futures contracts on Wednesday and net sellers of wheat futures, traders said. (COMFUND/CBT) Funds hold sizable net short positions in soybean, corn and wheat futures, priming markets for bouts of short-covering. There was additional support for soybeans stemming from private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to undisclosed destinations, the first such announcement since Feb. 27. Grain trade association Coceral on Wednesday cut its forecast for this year’s soft wheat output in the European Union and Britain by 5.4 million metric tons due to damage caused by heavy rainfall in the region. Brazil extended its dominance over the United States as the largest corn supplier to China in the first two months of the year, and also raised its soybean exports, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday. China imported 4.1 million metric tons of corn from Brazil of a total 6.19 million tons that arrived during the January-February period, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, marking a 178% jump from a year-ago period. MARKET NEWS World stocks jumped on Wednesday and the dollar snapped a winning streak, after the Federal Reserve indicated that it still expects to cut U.S. interest rates three times this year despite projecting slightly slower progress on inflation. (MKTS/GLOB) DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0745 France Business Climate Mfg, Overall March 0815 France HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs March 0830 Germany HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs March 0900 EU HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs March 0930 UK Flash Comp, Mfg, Serv PMIs March 1200 UK BOE Bank Rate March 1230 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly 1230 US Philly Fed Business Indx March 1345 US S&P Global Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs March 1400 US Existing Homes Sales Feb