GRAINS-Wheat ticks up after slide, but big stocks weigh

* USDA ups U.S. wheat stockpile estimate by 50 mln bushels

* Wheat still near 5-month lows; corn firm

* Coming Up: Federal Reserve policy meeting outcome; 1730 GMT

SINGAPORE, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures edged higher on Wednesday after steep losses of more than 3 percent in the previous session, but the modest gains suggest prices will remain under pressure given projections for hefty global stockpiles. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday raised its estimate for U.S. 2012/2013 wheat ending stocks to 754 million bushels, 50 million more than its estimate in November and surpassing market expectations. The revision reflected slower demand for U.S. wheat and dragged down prices to five-month lows on Tuesday. The agency also increased its forecast for global wheat inventories to almost 177 million tonnes, from 174 million in November and well above market projections, following estimates of larger crops from Australia, Canada and China. The most-traded March wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.2 percent at $8.23-1/4 per bushel by 0242 GMT. Despite the gain, the price is not far off Tuesday's trough of $8.16, the lowest since July 3. "In the longer term, wheat will stay under pressure due to the new forecast," said Lynette Tan, analyst at Phillip Futures, who sees price support at around $8. "The slow pace of exports, particularly for hard red winter wheat, means the U.S. industry will have a larger-than-expected buffer against future production issues. This buffer may prove extremely important given the ongoing drought in the U.S. Great Plains," Luke Mathews, analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note. Chicago corn gained 0.4 percent to 7.31 a bushel, after hitting near one-month lows in the prior session in sympathy with wheat. The USDA kept its U.S. corn stocks estimate at 647 million bushels, the smallest in 17 years, reflecting the impact of the worst drought in half a century earlier this year. The agency trimmed its estimate of soybean ending stocks by 10 million bushels to 130 million bushels, the lowest in nine years but in line with markets expectations. Soybeans were off 0.1 percent at $14.70 per bushel. Grains prices, along with other commodities, could get a further boost later in the session if the U.S. Federal Reserve decides to launch more economic stimulus by topping up its monthly bond buying programme in its bid to bring down unemployment. Expectations are high that the Fed will unveil plans to purchase $45 billion more bonds every month, on top of the $40 billion it announced in September.

Grains prices at 0242 GMT

Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 823.25 1.75 +0.21% -3.00% 867.79 21 CBOT corn 731.00 3.00 +0.41% +0.14% 743.12 32 CBOT soy 1470.00 -2.00 -0.14% -0.32% 1445.04 52 CBOT rice $15.47 -$0.05 -0.35% +0.10% $15.12 62 WTI crude $85.95 $0.16 +0.19% +0.46% $86.75 40

Currencies

Euro/dlr $1.301 $0.000 +0.04% +0.53% USD/AUD 1.053 0.000 +0.00% +0.42%

Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential

(Editing by Himani Sarkar)