Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended lower Thursday on chart-based selling and positioning at the end of the month, and on a larger estimate of Argentina's developing crop, traders said. CBOT March corn settled down 4-3/4 cents at $3.76-1/2 per bushel, turning lower after failing to top Wednesday's one-week high of $3.81-1/2.

The contract dropped below its 50- and 100-day moving averages but support held at $3.75-3/4. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange raised its estimate of Argentina's corn crop to 45 million tonnes, from 43 million previously, citing better-than-expected yields.

The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US corn in the week to Dec. 20 at 1.753 million tonnes (combined old and new crop years), above trade expectations for 1.050 million to 1.6 million.

Copyright Reuters, 2019