CANBERRA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures on Monday slipped further from last week's four-month high as speculators held onto bearish positions despite the strongest run of U.S. wheat sales to China in years.

Soybeans regained ground after a higher than expected U.S. government estimate of Brazilian production eased supply concerns on last week.

Corn futures also rose.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $6.30.1/4 a bushel by 0303 GMT after reaching $6.49-1/2 last Wednesday, its highest since Aug. 9.

* CBOT soybeans rose 0.6% to $13.11-1/2 a bushel and corn gained 0.2% to $4.86-1/4 a bushel.

* Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, corn and soybeans on Friday, traders said, despite the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirming large overseas sales of all three crops.

* U.S. producers sold a whopping 1,120,000 metric tons of soft red wheat to China last week, far above typical levels, according to the USDA.

* Those purchases helped trigger a rush of short-covering that lifted wheat prices 15% over eight consecutive trading sessions, but even after that, speculators and funds hold a historically heavy net short.

* The USDA also in a monthly report cut its forecasts of U.S. 2023/24 wheat ending stocks to 659 million bushels and of global wheat ending stocks to 258.20 million tons, both estimates below analyst expectations.

* Meanwhile, Ukraine's farm ministry raised its 2023 grain harvest forecast to a record high, with 22.2 million tons of wheat, 5.8 million tons of barley and 30.1 million tons of corn.

* French farmers had sown 89% of the expected soft wheat area for next year's harvest by Dec. 4, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed.

* In soybeans, the USDA cut its production forecast for Brazil's next soybean harvest by 2 million tons to 161 million tons, above analyst expectations and still a record crop.

* Grain traders are monitoring Brazil's harvest as it is the world's largest soy supplier and U.S. inventories are tight.

* For corn, the USDA forecast a Brazilian crop of 129 million tons, unchanged from its November estimate and above analysts' expectations.

* China produced a record corn crop of 288.84 million metric tons in 2023, up 4% from a year ago, its statistics department said.

MARKETS NEWS

Asian shares drifted lower on Monday ahead of a week packed with four central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid fire round of rate cuts next year.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Rashmi Aich)