By Julie Gingersen
CHICAGO, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Corn, soybean and wheat futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange rose slightly on Friday as traders covered short positions ahead of a long weekend in the United States and weighed crop prospects in South America, traders said.
* Uncertainty over the future of the Black Sea grain export corridor supported stocks, while a stronger dollar and falling crude prices limited gains.
* As of 1907 GMT, March CBOT soybeans were up 2 cents at $15.2850 a bushel and March corn was up 1.25 cents at $6.7725 a bushel. March CBOT wheat rose 1.25 cents to $7.6625 a bushel.
* Corn and soybean futures tumbled this week as traders flipped from drought-hit Argentinian crop woes to expectations of a record soybean crop in Brazil.
* “It’s creating a conversation: Is the Brazilian soybean crop big enough to offset the losses in Argentina?” said Tom Fritz, partner at EFG Group in Chicago.
* The dollar index hit a six-week high, making US grains less attractive around the world as investors raised interest rate expectations following the latest economic data.
* Meanwhile, escalating fighting in eastern Ukraine and renewed Russian criticism of a maritime war corridor from Ukraine supported the wheat market. Negotiations to extend the deal will begin within a week, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. (Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore. Spanish edition by Javier Leira)