* Wheat rally stalls after near 3 pct gain on Tuesday
* Market assesses dry weather in U.S. Plains, elsewhere
* Corn, soybeans also edge down, trade uncertainty weighs
(Updates with European trading, changes byline/dateline) PARIS/SINGAPORE, May 23 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat turned lower on Wednesday, pausing after a weather-fueled rally a day earlier, as investors weighed up risks to crop yields from dryness in the U.S. Plains and several other key wheat-producing zones worldwide. Chicago soybean and corn futures also edged down to give up a slight earlier gain, as uncertainty over the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks hung over grain and wider financial markets. The Chicago Board Of Trade most-active wheat contract was down 0.7 percent at $5.18 a bushel by 1052 GMT. It closed nearly 3 percent higher on Tuesday. "Today there has been a lack of headlines to feed the bullish sentiment," Charles Clack, commodity analyst with Rabobank, said of wheat. "Yesterday, we had weather concerns creeping back in. Today, the market is re-evaluating perhaps and saying, while there is concern, it could all pan out in a more benign way." After rain in the past week, the southern U.S. Plains are set to turn drier, raising doubts over the capacity of crops to recover from drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said just 36 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good-to-excellent shape, as of Sunday, compared with 52 percent at the same point last year. Dry weather in parts of Canada, Australia and Russia, all major wheat exporters, has added to crop worries, although the global wheat market is set for record inventory levels at the end of the current season. CBOT soybeans were down 0.2 percent at $10.28-1/4 a bushel, and corn was down 0.3 percent at $4.03-3/4 a bushel. Renewed doubts over progress in trade talks between Washington and Beijing, after U.S. President Donald Trump tempered optimism that a China-U.S. stand-off was ending, also curbed grain prices and wider markets. A Chinese threat to impose extra tariffs on U.S. soybeans, the most valuable U.S. agricultural export to China, has loomed large during the recent trade spat. However, sources said China's state grain buyer Sinograin asked about U.S.-origin soybean prices this week after being largely absent for the last six weeks. Corn and soybean markets were also monitoring planting progress in the United States and prospects for a drought-affected second corn crop in Brazil. Better-than-expected U.S. soybean planting progress has capped prices after the USDA said 56 percent of the crop had been seeded as of Sunday, ahead of the five-year average of 44 percent.
Prices at 1052 GMT
Last Change Pct End Ytd PctMove 2017 MoveCBOT wheat 518.00 -3.50 -0.67 427.00 21.31CBOT corn 403.75 -1.00 -0.25 350.75 15.11CBOT soy 1028.25 -2.25 -0.22 961.75 6.91Paris wheat Dec 181.00 -1.25 -0.69 170.00 6.47Paris maize Jun 168.25 -0.25 -0.15 163.50 2.91Paris rape Aug 358.00 -0.25 -0.07 349.00 2.58WTI crude oil 71.74 -0.46 -0.64 60.42 18.74Euro/dlr 1.17 -0.01 -0.48
Most active contracts - Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Jon Boyle)