Wheat down on supply pressure; corn, soybeans set for weekly gains

SINGAPORE, May 26 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat slid on Friday, with the market poised to end the week largely unchanged after two consecutive weekly loss, as expectations of plentiful global supplies continued to pressure prices.

Corn and soybeans lost ground on slowing demand for U.S. supplies.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $6.03 a bushel, as of 0027 GMT. Corn fell 0.2% to $5.89-1/2 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.1% to $13.22-3/4 a bushel.

* For the week, wheat was almost listless, while corn and soybeans are on track to post gains.

* Expectations of large global supplies are weighing on wheat futures with farmers in the northern hemisphere set to harvest their bumper crops in the coming months.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported weekly net export sales reductions of 75,200 tonnes for U.S. old-crop corn in the week ended May 18. Net new-crop corn sales totalled only 52,100 tonnes, near the low-end of analysts' expectations.

* Weekly export sales of U.S. old-crop soybeans were 115,000 tonnes at the low-end of trade expectations, and new-crop sales were below expectations at 1,100 tonnes.

* For U.S. wheat, the agency reported net reductions of 45,100 tonnes for old-crop export sales. Net new-crop wheat sales totalled 245,100 tonnes, toward the low-end of expectations.

* Ukrainian 2023 spring grain sowing was 97% complete at almost 5.3 million hectares on May 25, agriculture ministry data showed on Thursday.

* India is likely to harvest a record 112.7 million tonnes of wheat in 2023, the farm ministry said on Thursday, reiterating its previous estimate of 112.2 million tonnes despite lower crop yields due to unseasonal rains in February and March.

* However, concerns linger over the implementation of the Black Sea grain deal, which was extended last week.

* Dozens of ships are unable to reach Ukraine, days after a Black Sea grain deal was extended and the pace of shipments is unlikely to pick up because of slow inspections and other uncertainties, according to data and three sources.

* Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, soybean and soymeal futures contracts on Thursday, traders said. Funds were net buyers of soyoil contracts, and net even in wheat contracts at the CBOT, traders said.

MARKET NEWS

* Progress on U.S. debt ceiling talks bolstered global equities and sent gold prices to a two-month low on Thursday, as forecast-smashing revenue from chipmaker Nvidia fuelled a rally in AI-related companies.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0600 UK Retail Sales MM, YY April 0600 UK Retail Sales Ex-Fuel MM April 1000 France Unemp Class-A SA April 1230 US Consumption, Adjusted MM April 1230 US Core PCE Price Index MM, YY April 1230 US PCE Price Index MM, YY April 1230 US Durable Goods April 1400 US U Mich Sentiment Final May (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)