Chicago agricultural commodity futures market closed mixed

Chicago agricultural commodity futures market closed mixed Friday, with corn rising slightly but wheat and soybean dropping. The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 0.5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to close at 4.82 dollars per bushel. December wheat slipped 0.25 cents, or 0.04 percent, to close at 6. 54 dollars per bushel. November soybeans fell 11 cents, or 0.8 percent, to close at 13.575 dollars per bushel. December corn traded lower most of the day and only rose slightly by the end of Friday. All factors pointed to dampening corn: investors adjusted their positions ahead of the weekend; increased rainfalls are forecasted across the Eastern Corn Belt; harvest is progressing at a brisk pace in most areas of the Midwest; cash markets remained soft; and ethanol production decreased in the last quarter. December wheat dropped slightly Friday as feed demand for the crop should begin to decrease in the next one to two months. Dollar's upward climb also dampened wheat. A commodity group lowered its production outlook for Australia overnight by 2.5 million tonnes due to dry weather conditions in key growing regions. As a result, wheat export prices rose in Australia this week. November soybean traded lower Friday on profit taking as well as on wetter weather forecast for the weekend and early next week. Dollar's going strong also dampened soybean. As damage has already been done to a large portion of the crop, many analysts have lowered the nationwide yield potential by 1-1.2 bushels per acre, which is supportive of soybean. Meanwhile, China booked another 110,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans overnight for the 2013-14 marketing year; sales remained well above the 5-year average pace, curbing the fall in prices.