By Luzi Ann Javier Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Corn and soybeans advanced on concern that heavy rain may damage crops in Brazil and Argentina and as the dollar weakened, making U.S. supplies more attractive to investors and importers. Corn for May delivery rose for a second day, gaining 0.9 percent to $3.75 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:31 p.m. Singapore time. Soybeans for delivery in the same month climbed 0.6 percent to $9.60 a bushel. Eighteen of 34 traders and analysts surveyed on Feb. 19 from Tokyo to Chicago said soybeans and corn will climb this week on speculation rains will damage crops or delay harvests in South America. There’s a “high risk for heavy rain” in parts of Brazil and Argentina in the six days from Feb. 19, according to a forecast by Telvent DTN Inc. “A little bit of excess rain in parts of South America is aiding that particular complex,” Luke Mathews, an agricultural commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said from Sydney. A weaker dollar “has assisted the crude oil market and similarly, we’ve seen the grain markets move higher.” The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, fell as much as 0.4 percent on speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep its benchmark interest rate on hold to sustain a recovery in the world’s largest economy. “We’re seeing a little bit of money coming into riskier trades and into commodities,” Ben Barber, a futures adviser at Bell Commodities Ltd., said by phone from Sydney. Wheat Climbs Wheat for May delivery rose as much as 1.6 percent to $5.12 a bushel before trading at $5.0725 at 2:12 p.m. Singapore time. Speculative short positions, or bets wheat prices will fall, outnumbered long positions by 51,195 contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade in the week ended Feb. 16, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. “We remain wary that the speculative investors have built significant net-short positions and therefore we are susceptible to short covering,” Commonwealth’s Mathews said. Short covering is when investors close bets on price declines. Rice for May delivery gained 1.8 percent to $14.215 per 100 pounds in Chicago at 2:16 p.m. Singapore time. Rice harvests lost to dry weather in the Philippines, the biggest importer, may be more than the 800,000 metric tons estimated earlier, raising concern a shortfall may deepen, Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas said today. “Prices have pulled up there,” Bell’s Barber said, citing the gains in prices after Rudinas’s comment. “It’s obviously lending a little bit of support” for futures prices, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net

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