SINGAPORE  - Chicago wheat futures slid on Wednesday as the market took a breather after the previous session's biggest one-day gain in seven months which was triggered by fund buying and technicals.

Soybeans rose for a second straight session but worries about Chinese demand following the spread of African swine fever weighed on prices.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 0.6 percent at $4.50-1/2 a bushel, as of 0334 GMT. In the previous session, it rose 5.7 percent, the highest one-day gain since late July.

Soybeans gained 0.1 percent to $8.98 a bushel and corn was up 0.1 percent at $3.66 a bushel.

"We think prices had fallen too low that is why we saw Tuesday's rally," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

"Supply pressure is likely to prevent a rally but it is important that the technicals support a turnaround."

Wheat is expected to gain more to $4.64 a bushel, the 38.2 percent retracement of the downtrend from $5.24 to $4.27, driven by a wave (4), according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

"Five smaller waves make up the current bounce, so far, only three waves have unfolded."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday that good-to-excellent ratings for winter wheat in Kansas, the largest U.S. production state for the crop, rose 2 percentage points to 51 percent in the latest week. Ratings also rose in Oklahoma, but fell in Texas.

For soybeans, concerns over Chinese demand are weighing on the market.

China, home to the world's largest hog herd, has reported 112 outbreaks of the highly contagious disease in 28 provinces and regions since August, although the vast majority were found on farms, with one at a slaughterhouse.

Private analytics firm IEG Vantage, formerly known as Informa Economics IEG, on Tuesday projected U.S. 2019 soybean plantings at 85.494 million acres, down from its Feb. 14 forecast of 86.044 million acres.

The firm forecast 2019 soybean production at 4.340 billion bushels based on a yield of 51.2 bushels per acre, according to an IEG client note seen by Reuters.

The United States and China may be in the final weeks of discussions to hammer out a deal to ease their tit-for-tat tariffs dispute, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday.

The trade war has curbed U.S. soybean exports to China.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat, soybean, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Tuesday, traders said.    

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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