Jan 20 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and wheat futures were little changed in early Asian trading on Friday as market participants awaited the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly export sales report due later in the day.
Both soybeans and wheat were, however, on track for weekly losses, while corn slipped for a third straight session after forecasts for beneficial rains in drought-hit Argentina.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was nearly flat at $15.15 a bushel, as of 0138 GMT, while wheat was steady at $7.34-1/2 a bushel.
* Corn shed 0.2% to $6.76 a bushel.
* Farm Futures survey of U.S. planting intentions indicated that producers plan to expand all-wheat seedings for 2023 harvest by nearly 7% compared to a year ago, with smaller increases expected for corn and soybean acreage.
* Traders await the USDA's export sales report due at 7:30 a.m. CST (1330 GMT) on Friday.
* Renewed recession fears also weighed on market sentiment this week, with latest U.S. data showing the world's biggest economy slowing down following the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes.
* Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, soybean, corn, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, traders said.
MARKET NEWS
* World stocks fell on Thursday and U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields bounced up off of four-month lows, as worries mounted that an aggressive stance by central banks could push the global economy into a slowdown.
* The dollar slid on Thursday in choppy trading, as a slew of data continued to show that the U.S. economy was slowing down in the wake of multiple hefty interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, with the market anticipating a pause in tightening this year.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0115 China Loan Prime Rate 1Y, 5Y Jan
0700 UK Retail Sales MM, YY Dec
0700 UK Retail Sales Ex-Fuel MM Dec
1500 US Existing Home Sales Dec (Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
