Corn falls, soy eases as focus moves to US harvest

NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chicago corn and soybean futures fell on Monday on an acceleration in the pace of the harvest in the U.S. Midwest, reversing overnight gains triggered by worries about the conflict in the Middle East.

The most actively traded corn futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) settled down about 0.8% at $4.88-1/4 a bushel, after climbing to $4.97 overnight. Soybeans rallied to $12.77-1/2 overnight before settling at 12.64-1/4, a loss of about 0.1%.

The bloodiest fighting in years between Israelis and Palestinians that erupted over the weekend sent crude oil prices up more than $3, a rally that briefly lifted agricultural commodities.

"I think the focus also started to shift back to what's ahead of us here in the U.S.," said grains analyst Jerry Gidel of Midland Research.

Due to a federal holiday on Monday, a weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on the corn and soybean harvest has been delayed to Tuesday.

On Thursday, USDA will release a monthly grain supply and demand report. Analysts expect the USDA to lower its U.S. corn and soybean harvest estimates, and traders are rebalancing their positions ahead of the data.

Soybean prices remain near three-month lows and corn is hovering at lows not seen since January 2021. Both are held in check by weak export demand, exacerbated by a strong dollar . Despite tightness in U.S. soybean stocks, a steady supply of Brazilian soybeans has held down prices.

"It becomes difficult to build a bullish case when we've got a weakened demand component," said ag risk manager Brad Fuller of Western Horizons in Barnsdall, Oklahoma.

Benchmark CBOT wheat settled up 0.8% at $5.72-3/4 a bushel. December wheat traded up to $5.81-1/2 overnight, briefly crossing above the contract's 20-day moving average, before falling back down after violence between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel escalated. (Reporting by Zachary Goelman in New York City; Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Paul Simao)