CHICAGO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Thursday, with corn and wheat rising and soybean falling.

       The most active corn contract for May delivery rose one cent, or 0.23 percent, to settle at 4.295 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat gained 1.5 cents, or 0.26 percent, to settle at 5.7625 dollars per bushel. May soybean fell 4.5 cents, or 0.39 percent, to settle at 11.4075 dollars per bushel.

       Corn futures are finding speculative short covering and new buyers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) March crop report is due out Friday next week. Chicago-based research company AgResource holds that discussion on Brazilian soybean and corn crop sizes will become the market's focus.

       U.S. weekly sales for the week ending Feb. 22 were 12 million bushels of wheat, 42.6 million bushels of corn and 5.9 million bushels of soybeans.

       For respective crop years to date, the United States has sold 667 million bushels of wheat, up 6 percent year on year; 1,500 million bushels of corn, up 30 percent; and 1,434 million bushels of soybeans, down 20 percent.

       The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) December biofuel report showed expanded use of feedstocks and production. Total feedstock December use was a record large 27,104 million pounds. U.S. renewable diesel capacity is quickly ramping up.

       Rain is forecast across Brazil and Argentina. The coming rain will be enough to satisfy the early moisture needs of corn. No lasting extreme temperature is forecast.

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