U.S. corn futures jumped to a two-week high Tuesday, fueled by investors continuing to take a bullish stance in the market on fears of tight supplies.

"Corn bulls are still energized by Friday's friendly grain-stocks report that showed corn inventories were smaller than industry analysts had anticipated," said Aaron Curtis, commodity risk consultant with MID-CO Commodities in Bloomington, Ill.

The stocks report underpinned the nearby May contract, as investors worry about inventories running short by the end of summer, particularly with the uncertainty that looms ahead of the 2012 U.S. planting season.

Investor buying was also fueled by trader attitudes that corn supplies may be even tighter than government forecasters are currently estimating.

An article written by John Macintosh, of Rand Financial Services circulated on the CBOT trading floor, highlighted traders perceptions that U.S. corn inventories on March 1 were likely smaller than what was reported by U.S. Department of Agriculture last week.

He contends in the article that USDA incorrectly accounts for corn that has left farms and is "in transit" while more corn may have to be used as animal feed as well.

The fear of supplies dwindling to uncomfortably tight levels was enough to keep the most active May contract firmly underpinned.

CBOT May corn futures, which is the most actively traded, ended up 3 1/4 cents at $6.58 1/4 per bushel. The contract is up 9% in the past three days.

New crop contracts that represent crops that will be seeded in the spring and harvested in the fall ended with modest gains. Traders pricing in fear of weather threats continue to buoy futures, as investors know 2012 U.S. corn production has no room for error amid thin old crop inventories, Curtis said.

New crop December corn futures ended up 1/2 cent to $5.45 1/2.

Wheat futures ended higher, pulled up in unison with corn.

CBOT May wheat ended up 1 cent at $6.58 per bushel, May KCBT wheat ended unchanged at $6.90 and May MGEX wheat ended up 1 cent to $8.50 1/4.

Soybean futures finished lower, succumbing to profit taking pressure. Soybeans managed to extend to new 6 1/2 month highs in early trading, supported by perceptions prices need to rally in an effort to either ration some future demand or buy back some acres intended for corn to meet expected higher demand.

However, with overbought conditions you can't rule out a near term correction, and that was enough to encourage profit taking, Curtis said.

Soybean futures for May delivery, which is the most-actively traded, closed down 4 1/4 cents to $14.16 3/4 a bushel.

-By Andrew Johnson Jr, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-347-4604 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting