DES MOINES, Iowa (Agriculture.com)--With narrow trade ranges and light volume, the CME Group corn, soybean, and wheat markets close lower Thursday.

The March futures corn contract settled 1 cent lower at $6.91. The January soybean futures contract finished 5 cents lower at $14.18. March wheat futures finished 2 cents lower at $7.72 per bushel. The January soyoil futures contract settled unchanged at $48.29. The January soymeal futures contract finished $1.50 per short ton lower at $429.80.

Tim Hannagan, Alpari (U.S.) LLC grain specialist, says sellers are surrounding the markets.

"After a short-covering rally last week, we're seeing sellers again on three fronts that are preventing people from building new long positions into their book. It's month-end, year-end, and fiscal cliff fear that have traders balancing their books and reducing long exposure," Hannagan says.  

Traders also expect a bearish weekly export sales report Friday for corn and wheat, while beans should be friendly at best but not bullish, he says. 

"Lower trade, off the report, Friday should put a low in for December, leaving Monday as an up day and a last chance for this week's new shorts to take their profits," Hannagan says.