CHICAGO, May 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures rose on Friday, supported by forecasts for rain that could slow the tail end of planting in the U.S. Midwest.
Wheat futures also were higher, with traders exiting bearish positions ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. U.S. markets will be closed on Monday.
Soybean futures hit their highest since Feb. 24. Corn futures received additional support from bargain buying after sinking to their lowest since April 8 on Wednesday.
"The planting of the last 5% to 10% of the crop ... will be critical and the weather forecast for those areas is not all that great," Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa, said in a note to clients. "It now appears that most of those remaining acres will be planted in June or not planted at all which will could have significant impact on the U.S. supply and the U.S. balance sheet."
CBOT July corn futures settled up 12-1/4 cents at $7.77-1/4 a bushel.
CBOT July soybeans were 5-3/4 cents higher at $17.32-1/4 a bushel.
CBOT July soft red winter wheat was up 14-1/4 cents at $11.57-1/2 a bushel, rebounding from three straight days of declines.
"Wheat was up on confirmation from the White House that lifting sanctions against Russia wasn't going to happen, and short covering in front of the long weekend," Charlie Sernatinger, global head of grain futures at ED&F Man Capital, said in a note to clients.
Wheat and corn prices came under pressure after comments by Russian officials this week that Moscow was willing to allow a sea corridor for Ukrainian food shipments.
But traders have been cautious because Russia also called for lifting sanctions in parallel, something rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies. (Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Richard Chang)
