Corn, soybeans creep higher as traders await US election results
Updates as of 1610 GMT
By Tom Polansek
CHICAGO, Nov 5 (Reuters) -Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures edged higher on Tuesday as investors braced for the outcome of the U.S. presidential election while also looking ahead to a U.S. interest rate decision and crop forecasts later this week.
Traders stayed on the sidelines, awaiting results from the turbulent campaign pitting Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump.
Trump's proposed tariffs are a particular focus for grain traders, as they could disrupt U.S. agricultural trade. Trump's first term featured a trade war with China.
"For today it's 90% election" that is influencing crop prices, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for brokerage Allendale.
Most-active CBOT soybeans Sv1 rose 3-3/4 cents to $10.01 a bushel and corn Cv1 crept up 3/4 cent to $4.17-1/4 a bushel by 10:10 a.m. CST (1610 GMT). Wheat Wv1 was flat at $5.68-3/4 a bushel.
A weaker dollar .DXY and a flurry of export sales for U.S. corn and soybeans underpinned the markets. Exporters sold 124,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to unknown buyers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Still, bumper U.S. corn and soybean harvests and improving conditions in dry winter wheat belts kept a lid on prices.
On Monday, the USDA said 41% of the recently seeded U.S. wheat crop was in good-to-excellent condition, up from the previous week but still the second-lowest score on record.
"It's a scary sounding story," Nelson said. Yet "weather at planting is not a determinant of final yields. Basically, spring rains are."
Markets also await the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, to be announced at the end of a policy meeting on Thursday. That is followed by USDA's monthly supply and demand estimates on Friday.
"We can expect lots of volatility through the end of the week," Peak Trading Research said.
Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra
Editing by Sumana Nandy, Rashmi Aich, David Goodman and David Gregorio
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