GRAINS-Wheat rebounds after Egypt purchase, soy at 3-week high
* U.S. wheat up 1 pct after 1st sale this season to Egypt's GASC
* Soy recovers on expected Chinese demand
* One-month low for dollar also helps U.S. grains
* S. America weather watched, soy planting picks up in Argentina
(Updates with European trading, changes dateline/byline) PARIS/SYDNEY, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures rebounded on Monday from heavy losses in the previous session as export prospects were boosted by a first U.S. sale this season to Egypt's state buyer and a one-month low for the dollar. U.S. corn futures also rose while soybeans struck their highest in more than three weeks on expectations of higher Chinese demand. U.S. wheat claimed the bulk of a 400,000 tonne purchase by Egyptian government buyer GASC in a weekend tender, improving demand sentiment after disappointing export sales last week helped push the market lower. A one-month low for the dollar index, as signs of progress in tackling Greece's debt lifted the euro, also supported U.S. grain prices by making them more attractive to overseas buyers. "Wheat was sold off quite hard on Friday night on long liquidation and I think we are seeing a bit of correction today," Andrew Woodhouse, grains analyst at Advance Trading Australasia said. "With Egypt buying a large quantity of U.S. wheat after the close on Friday, that's also supporting the market." The market has anticipated for some time an upturn in U.S. wheat exports after weather-related supply snags in rival exporters like Russia and Argentina, as well as tight stocks in the European Union. But lower-than-expected weekly U.S. export sales reported on Thursday dented these expectations and contributed to a pullback of more than 2 percent on Friday. In a tender on Saturday, Egypt's GASC bought 280,000 tonnes of U.S. wheat together with 60,000 tonnes each of French and Romanian wheat, with the offers showing the U.S. origin was now matching EU prices even including higher shipping costs. Chicago Board of Trade December wheat rose 1.1 percent to $8.54-1/4 a bushel slipped 2.5 percent on Friday as the weekly export figures encouraged an end-of-month sell-off. In Europe, wheat futures in Paris rose in step with U.S. prices, with the latest sale of French wheat to Egypt allowing the market to shrug off a six-week high for the euro against the dollar. January milling wheat was up 0.7 percent at 271.50 euros a tonne.
SOUTH AMERICA WEATHER "U.S. and European wheat shared the spoils in the Egypt tender," a European export trader said. "There were no offers from the Black Sea, a sole offer of Argentine wheat for the second half of January and none for February. And no offers at all from Australia." CBOT March corn rose 1.1 percent to $7.56 a bushel while January soybeans firmed 1.3 percent to $14.56-3/4, after rising earlier to $14.62, a highest level since November 9. Like wheat, corn and soy had fallen on Friday, also hit by disappointment over weekly export sales. Soy was finding some fresh export impetus from signs of accelerating demand in China, the world's largest buyer of the oilseed. Soy buyers in China have stepped up orders from the United States in recent days, keen to purchase cargoes for delivery in the first quarter of next year, with another 3 million to 4 million tonnes of soy to be purchased in coming weeks to meet crushing demand, traders said. Corn and soy markets remained influenced by weather reports from South America, where Brazil and Argentina were planting crops that are critical to replenish world supply squeezed by the impact of a severe U.S. drought. Argentine farmers jump-started soybean planting this week as normal weather returned following months of unusually hard rains, the government said in its weekly crop report. Soy could gain area from in Argentina after flooding damaged some barley fields, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday. Corn planting, however, remained slowed by the rain that has also raised fears about wheat harvesting.
* Prices as of 1254 GMT
Product Last Change Pct Move End 2011 Ytd PctCBOT wheat 854.25 9.50 +1.12 652.75 30.87 CBOT corn 756.00 8.00 +1.07 646.60 16.92 CBOT soy 1456.75 18.00 +1.25 1198.50 21.55 Paris wheat 271.50 2.00 +0.74 195.25 39.05 Paris maize 255.00 2.00 +0.79 196.75 29.61 Paris rape 477.75 1.00 +0.21 421.50 13.35 Crude oil 89.42 0.51 +0.57 98.83 -9.52
*CBOT futures in cents per bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne, London wheat in pounds per tonne.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Valerie Parent and Colin Packham; Editing by William Hardy)