The Associated Press

Corn futures ended lower Monday as investors continued to worry about weakness in U.S. exports of the grain.

Corn for March delivery lost 7.25 cents to settle at $7.30 a bushel. Wheat also fell. The March contract closed down 12.25 cents at $8.4875 a bushel. Soybeans for January delivery edged up 2.5 cents to $14.7475.

Jack Scoville of Price Futures Group wrote in a note to clients that corn fell following a "very disappointing" report on export sales.

"News that Brazil sold corn to Taiwan and that Ukraine is ready to sell corn to China highlighted once again that demand for corn or other feed grains is getting taken care of at somewhat cheaper prices than what can be done here in the U.S.," Scoville wrote.

In energy trading, benchmark crude fell 37 cents to finish at $85.56 per barrel in New York. Heating oil fell 1.91 cents to finish at $2.90 a gallon, natural gas fell 9.1 cents to end at $3.46 per 1,000 cubic feet and wholesale gasoline was unchanged at $2.60 a gallon.

Metals prices rose. Gold for February delivery rose $8.90 to $1,714.40 an ounce. March silver rose 24.6 cents to $33.377 an ounce and January platinum rose $16.30 to $1,623.30 an ounce. March palladium rose $6.75 cents to $704.75 an ounce.

Copper for March delivery rose 4.3 cents to $3.7060 a pound.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.