Chicago wheat edges up from steep losses, ample supplies cap gains

SINGAPORE, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures edged higher on Tuesday as bargain buying supported prices following previous session's sharp losses, although forecasts of a near record Australian crop and higher Russian exports curbed gains.

Corn rose marginally in early Asian trade after closing lower on Monday, while soybeans fell for a second session.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) added 0.2% at $5.86 a bushel by 0109 GMT, after sliding more than 3% in the last session.

* Corn rose 0.1% to $4.26-1/4 a bushel and soybeans gave up 0.2% to $11.66-1/4 a bushel.

* Wheat fell on Monday after Russia's Agriculture Ministry said the country may increase the size of its grain export quota planned for Feb. 15 to June 30 to 17.5 million tonnes, from 15 million tonnes.

* There is likely to be more pressure on prices as Australian farmers are forecast to harvest more than 30 million tonnes of wheat this season after the country's chief commodity forecaster raised its production estimate on Tuesday by nearly 10% due to favourable rainfalls.

* Sovecon agriculture consultancy said on Monday that it expected Russia to harvest between 79.2 and 82.8 million tonnes of wheat in 2021 compared with 85.3 million tonnes in 2020.

* After the CBOT close on Monday, Egypt's main state wheat buyer set an international wheat purchase tender, its second within a week. Results were expected on Tuesday.

* Large speculators raised their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Nov. 24, regulatory data released on Monday showed.

* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and cut their net long position in soybeans.

* U.S. soybean crushings in October likely reached a record-high 5.899 million short tons, or 196.6 million bushels, according to the average forecast of nine analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of a monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report.

* The USDA is scheduled to release its monthly fats and oils report later on Tuesday.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian stock markets faced a choppy session on Tuesday after Wall Street dipped as investors took profits at the end of a record-breaking month while still remaining upbeat about the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine fuelling gains into next year.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0145 China Caixin Mfg PMI Final Nov 0330 Australia RBA Cash Rate Dec 0700 UK Nationwide House Price MM, YY Nov 0850 France Markit Mfg PMI Nov 0855 Germany Markit/BME Mfg PMI Nov 0855 Germany Unemployment Chng, Rate SA Nov 0900 EU Markit Mfg Final PMI Nov 1000 EU HICP Flash YY Nov 1000 EU HICP-X F&E Flash YY Nov 1445 US Markit Mfg PMI Final Nov 1500 US ISM Manufacturing PMI Nov (Reporting by Naveen Thukral, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)