“A little bit of a corrective bounce is overdue,” said Shawn McCambridge, grains analyst with Prudential Bache Commodities in Chicago. “(There is) limited upside potential because we just don’t have the support to push prices sharply higher. It is still all bad news but nothing that we have not heard.”

Wheat futures led the way higher, gaining 1.4 percent, while soybeans rose 0.7 percent during Thursday’s session.

“I don’t think there is much in these moves today, although some investors are taking the view that slumps are a time to get in,” said Toby Hassall, an analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia. “Still the fundamentals are soft across the whole commodities complex overall.”

The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade March soft red winter wheat contract settled up 6-3/4 cents at $4.75-3/4 a bushel.

CBOT March soybeans rose 6 cents to $9.14 a bushel while CBOT March corn ended up 1 cent at $3.54 a bushel after fluctuating between positive and negative territory throughout the day.

The gains in the grain markets bucked an overall downward trend in commodity prices on Thursday. Oil prices fell 5 percent and metals tumbled too as a surging dollar hurt demand for raw materials priced in the currency.

Dollar strength acts as a brake on commodity prices as a stronger greenback means less advantage for investors using other currencies, such as the euro and yen, to buy commodities priced in the U.S. unit.

Wheat garnered some additional support from renewed export interest, although Commodity Warrants’ Hassall said ample world supplies limited any upside.

Egypt’s main government wheat buyer said he had bought 240,000 tonnes of Russian, Kazakh and French wheat for shipment April 10-25.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said export sales of wheat were 482,700 tonnes in the latest reporting week, in line with market estimates for 350,000 to 550,000 tonnes.

“Overall, world supply outweighs demand and U.S. prices remain uncompetitive with European and Black Sea wheat,” Hassall said.