NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) -


C orn prices fell on Monday, approaching three-year lows on forecasts for ideal U.S. crop weather, while raw sugar had its biggest one-day surge in six weeks as funds covered short positions. Bullion slipped but gold futures rose slightly , as investors waited to see whether a two-day policy meeting by the Federal Reserve would shed clues on the central bank's plans for U.S. monetary stimulus. Copper rebounded from losses in two previous sessions. Oil prices ended mixed, with U.S. crude falling slightly and London's Brent crude rising on oil supply disruptions in Europe and the Middle East. The 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index settled 0.3 percent lower.

Raw sugar led gains on the CRB, rising nearly 3 percent. Natural gas fell almost 3 percent on forecasts for milder U.S. summer weather that reduced demand for gas-powered electricity to run air-conditioning . Chicago-traded corn futures dipped to their lowest levels since October 2010 as forecasters predicted the crop in the U.S. Midwest would go through a key development phase in "near-perfect" weather condition. "We have moderated the temperature significantly, eliminating most of the stress (on the crop)," said Bill Gentry, broker at Risk Management Commodities. "The reason for being long the market has kind of diminished. Now that we have the crop pollinated, you can take another notch of risk premium out."

 CBOT corn for September delivery ended down 2-3/4 cents at $4.89-1/4 a bushel after bottoming out at $4.88-1/4 earlier in the session. The intraday low was the lowest price for front-month corn since $4.87-3/4 on Oct. 7, 2010. New-crop corn for December delivery fell again, down 2-3/4 cents to $4.73-1/4 a bushel. December corn has fallen six days in a row and eight of the last nine sessions. New York-traded raw sugar climbed for the third straight day on a rally fueled by fund short-covering after the market broke above resistance around 16.50 cents per lb, basis October. Harvest-delaying rains in top producer Brazil helped lift the benchmark contract raw sugar contract above the three-year low of under 16 cents hit earlier this month. October raw sugar on ICE Futures U.S. vaulted 0.45 cent, or 2.7 percent, to settle at 16.92 cents per lb.

Prices at 4:26 p.m. EDT (2026 GMT)
LAST/ NET PCT YTD CLOSE CHG CHG CHG US crude 104.53 -0.17 -0.2% 13.8% Brent crude 107.58 0.41 0.4% -3.2% Natural gas 3.459 -0.096 -2.7% 3.2% US gold 1328.40 6.90 0.5% -20.7% Gold 1327.64 -5.65 -0.4% -20.7% US Copper 3.12 0.01 0.2% -14.7% LME Copper 6878.00 16.00 0.2% -13.3% Dollar 81.685 0.028 0.0% 6.4% CRB 283.629 -0.834 -0.3% -3.9% US corn 489.25 -2.75 -0.6% -29.9% US soybeans 1367.50 17.75 1.3% -3.6% US wheat 651.50 1.25 0.0% -16.3% US Coffee 121.15 -1.10 -0.9% -15.8% US Cocoa 2280.00 -53.00 -2.3% 2.0% US Sugar 16.92 0.45 2.7% -13.3% US silver 19.864 19.666 1.5% -34.3% US platinum 1442.70 19.90 0.0% -6.2% US palladium 744.65 20.65 2.9% 5.9%
(Reporting by Barani Krishnan; Editing by David Gregorio)