*

Nearby Chicago SRW wheat hits new lows on rain forecasts

*

Market awaits planting report, with higher corn area

expected

*

Rising Brazilian basis gives soybeans a boost

(Updates for U.S. trading, changes headline and dateline,

changes byline, updates bullets)

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, March 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade

soybean futures turned higher on Thursday as the U.S. dollar

weakened, while corn dipped to the lowest in more than three

weeks on expectations of increased planting by U.S. farmers this

year.

Meanwhile, CBOT's soft-red winter wheat nearby contracts

slumped to new contract lows, under pressure from forecasts of

rain in the U.S. and Russian wheat belt, sluggish U.S. wheat

export sales and an agreement to implement a ceasefire in the

Black Sea, market analysts said.

The most-active CBOT wheat was 0.7% lower at

$5.31-1/2 a bushel by 1624 GMT, after touching its lowest since

January 10.

Most-active corn was down 0.28% at $4.50 a bushel

by 1158 GMT, having earlier dropped to its lowest since March 4.

And soybeans were up 1.5% at $10.16 a bushel and reaching

the highest price in more than a week.

Grain markets were looking ahead to Monday's U.S.

planting and stocks data from the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, as well as seeking greater clarity on broad tariffs

promised by U.S. President Donald Trump from April 2.

"The elephant in the room is that report, because the trade

is going into it with a fear that we will see record corn

acres," said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West

Des Moines, Iowa. "So you're seeing some fund liquidation of

corn, and fund short-covering of soybeans."

U.S. farmers will plant 94.361 million acres with corn this

year, up from 90.594 million in 2024, according to an average of

analysts polled by Reuters before the USDA report.

But some traders said strength in the Brazilian soybean

basis amid booming Chinese demand for its bumper harvest, also

gave soy markets a boost.

"It's the time of year where basis there is strong, when

it should be weakened," said Jack Scoville, vice president at

the Price Futures Group.

(Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen

Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Mrigank

Dhaniwala, Shounak Dasgupta and Aurora Ellis)