CHICAGO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Thursday, with corn rising and wheat and soybean falling.

       The most active corn contract for July delivery rose 1.25 cents, or 0.15 percent, to settle at 8.135 U.S. dollars per bushel. July wheat fell 5.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at 10.8575 dollars per bushel. July soybean lost 8 cents, or 0.47 percent, to settle at 16.8475 dollars per bushel.

       Corn futures rose on concerning U.S. and Canadian weather and China demand confirmation, while soybean sagged on May contract liquidation ahead of the first notice day.

       Chicago-based research company AgResource stays bullish of the outlook of agricultural futures with corn being the upside price leader. The market will look at weather forecasts and add premium for the coming crop risks.

       The U.S. Department of Agriculture weekly export sales report shows that for the week ending April 21, the country sold 1.2 million bushels of old and 4.6 million bushels of new crop wheat, 34.1 million bushels of old and 33.2 million bushels of new crop corn, and 17.7 million bushels of old and 21.3 million bushels of new crop soybeans.

       For respective crop years to date, the United States has sold 709 million bushels of wheat, down 24.5 percent year on year; 2,264 million bushels of corn, down 18 percent; and 2,115 million bushels of soybeans, down 5.7 percent.

       Weather forecast offers an active jet stream and three storm systems for the Central United States in the next 10 days. Cool and wet weather persists from the Northern Plains into Missouri and east to Ohio. The rain is farther north and would be more concerning for Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana. It is looking unlikely that U.S. corn/soybean seeding will occur on a timely basis.