NEW YORK-Wheat prices rose yes­ter­day as the hot, dry sum­mer con­tin­ued to take its toll on crops in the US and Rus­sia. Wheat for de­liv­ery in Sep­tem­ber gained 42.5 cents to set­tle at $7.5125 per bushel, the high­est clos­ing price since last Sep­tem­ber. Corn al­so rose.

Glob­al sup­plies of wheat re­main plen­ti­ful, but traders are con­cerned that the heat wave may cause crops to de­te­ri­o­rate in the Mid­west and parts of Rus­sia and Kaza­khstan. The siz­zling sum­mer al­so has pushed up prices for corn. Crops in the Mid­west could be dam­aged by the heat and lack of rain­fall be­cause they are pol­li­nat­ing.

The dri­est ar­eas are south of Chica­go, in­clud­ing Mis­souri, Kansas and parts of the east­ern Mid­west and Delta re­gions, Jack Scov­ille, vice pres­i­dent of Price Fu­tures Group, wrote in an e-mail. Corn for De­cem­ber de­liv­ery rose nine cents to fin­ish at US$6.33 per bushel. No­vem­ber soy­beans edged down 1.25 cents to US$14.12 per bushel.

In oth­er trad­ing, en­er­gy and met­als prices were mixed as traders weighed pos­i­tive news about US man­u­fac­tur­ing and home sales against con­cerns about the ef­fect that Eu­rope's debt cri­sis could have on de­mand for com­modi­ties. The Com­merce De­part­ment said fac­to­ries re­ceived more or­ders in May for long-last­ing man­u­fac­tured goods such as heavy ma­chin­ery, com­put­ers and com­mu­ni­ca­tions equip­ment. That helped ease re­cent con­cerns about slow­er US fac­to­ry pro­duc­tion.

Sep­a­rate­ly, the Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Re­al­tors said Amer­i­cans signed more con­tracts to buy pre­vi­ous­ly oc­cu­pied homes in May. It fol­lows oth­er re­cent da­ta that shows steady im­prove­ment in the hous­ing mar­ket this year. Eu­ro­pean lead­ers will gath­er to­day and to­mor­row to dis­cuss the cri­sis, which has hurt economies with­in the Eu­ro­pean Union and has fil­tered out to the US, Chi­na and else­where. Chan­cel­lor An­gela Merkel warned there would be no quick so­lu­tion to the struc­tur­al is­sues plagu­ing the con­ti­nent. Gold for Au­gust de­liv­ery rose US$3.50 to end at US$1,578.40 an ounce and Ju­ly sil­ver fell 9.6 cents to US$26.942 per ounce. (AP)