* Corn jumps on talk of China's purchases of LatAm cargoes
* Soy little changed after steep losses; wheat up 0.7 pct
* Talk of China's policy tightening weighs on commodities
* Technicals see new bearish target for soy at $12.36/bsh (Adds details, quotes)
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, Nov 15 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures rose more than 2 percent on Monday as bargain hunters stepped into the market following Friday's slump amid talk that China bought cargoes of Argentine corn.
Wheat rose 0.7 percent, with support stemming from Iraq's purchase of U.S. wheat in a tender, while soybeans were little changed to trade near two-week lows. "The rebound is partly due to talk that China is buying corn and some South American trade going on in that market," said Garry Booth, a traderwith MF Global Australia. "We also had the Iraqi wheat tender on Friday where Australia and U.S. secured more business."
Chicago Board of Trade December corn rose 2.1 percent to $5.45 a bushel by 0442 GMT and December wheat rose quarter of a cent to $12.69-¼ a bushel.
Argentina's farm minister said on Friday it was in talks with China over exporting corn to the Asian country, which does not buy Argentine corn because of curbs on genetically modified varieties.
China is set to expand its reliance on corn imports in the coming year, a Reuters poll of 10 forecasters showed last month, although there is little consensus on the overall balance of supply and demand.
In the wheat market, which has been buoyed by dry weather in key U.S. winter crop areas, demand from Iraq provided support.
Iraq's state grain board has bought 250,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States, Australia and Ukraine in its latest purchase tender, European traders said on Friday. The purchase involved 100,000 tonnes from the U.S. at $399.80 a tonne c&f, 100,000 tonnes from Australia at $384.60 a tonne c&f and 50,000 tonnes from Ukraine at $370 c&f, traders said.
Another bullish factor for the wheat market was the weather in Australia, typically the world's fourth largest exporter. Australia's 2010/11 wheat harvest is being slowed by continuing rain across eastern states, raising concerns over crop quality, analysts and traders said on Monday.
Corn and wheat markets steadied as investor demand for riskier assets made a tentative comeback but did not entirely banish the fears of a possible move by Beijing to tighten liquidity that had upset markets last week.
On Friday, corn and soybeans fell by the daily trading limits as investors liquidated their positions in markets ranging from crude oil to gold to sugar on prospects of China, the world's No. 2 economy, raising interest rates.
China should move to a more prudent monetary policy and guard against risks from loose money conditions used to counter the global financial crisis, a central bank researcher said in remarks published on Monday.
Separately, an official newspaper reported on Sunday that China's four biggest state banks had used up their full-year credit quotas for property developers and would stop extending new loans to them for the rest of the year. PRICES AT 0442 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 673.75 4.50 +0.67% -4.30% 695.34 35 CBOT corn 545.00 11.00 +2.06% -3.37% 560.08 37 CBOT soy 1269.25 0.25 +0.02% -5.21% 1218.48 54 CBOT rice $13.87 -$0.20 -1.46% -4.84% $14.26 38 WTI crude $85.05 $0.17 +0.20% +0.20% $83.62 48 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.394 -$0.002 -0.16% -0.05% USD/AUD 1.011 0.026 +2.64% +2.79% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)