eCBOT Close/Early Call

The overnight market closed with mostly modest gains, wheat and corn 3-4 cents firmer and soybeans mixed between 2 up and 1 1/4 down.

Firmer stock markets helped support grains. Asian stocks, including Japan's Nikkei average and Seoul shares, bounced on Friday as U.S. stocks surged in the previous session after hitting 5-1/2-year lows.

At 12 noon GMT, London's FTSE100 was 3.7% higher, with the German DAX up a similar amount and the French CAC 2.17% higher.

The is still a considerable amount of corn left to harvest in the US, which is supporting prices. Some of these unharvested acres were also intended to be planted with winter wheat, which is also mildly friendly for wheat.

The USDA weekly export sales may provide further direction this afternoon. But ahead of that report earliest calls for this afternoon's CBOT session are: Corn futures are expected to open 2 to 4 higher; soybeans 1 to 2 lower; wheat 2 to 4 higher.