U.S. corn futures settled sharply down for a second straight session Monday, with selling continuing after a government report last week showed higher-than-expected domestic corn stockpiles.

Chicago Board of Trade May corn settled down 53 cents, or 7.6%, at $6.42 1/4 a bushel, a nine-month low.

Speculative funds sold futures to exit earlier bets on higher prices, which many had piled on in recent weeks.

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Corn futures on Thursday had fallen by their exchange-imposed daily limit of 40 cents a bushel after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said domestic corn stocks on March 1 totaled 5.4 billion bushels, well above analysts' expectations. U.S. grain markets were closed Friday, but due to the large move the limit on the change in corn futures prices rose to 60 cents a bushel Monday.

Soybean and wheat futures fell on the drop in corn, as well as continued pressure from supply levels of soybeans and wheat also being reported at levels above expectations last week in the USDA report.

CBOT May wheat settled down 23 3/4 cents at $6.64 a bushel. May soybeans fell 14 cents to $13.90 3/4 a bushel.

Write to Owen Fletcher at owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 01, 2013 15:49 ET (19:49 GMT)
DJ U.S. Corn Falls to Nine-Month Low in Continued Sharp Decline->copyright