GRAINS-Soy rises 1.5 pct on tight supply, short-covering

* Soy up for 4th day, rises 1.5 pct on tight supply

* Corn extends gains on exports, slow farmer selling

* Grains shrug off losses in oil as fundamentals prevail (Adds details, quotes)

SINGAPORE, July 30 - Chicago front-month soybean futures climbed 1.5 percent on Thursday, rising for a fourth straight day as tight U.S. supplies more than offset a sell-off in commodity markets.

Corn extended gains on prospects of strong exports and slow farmer sales, while wheat rose on spillover strength from soy and corn.

Analysts said grain markets could have found a floor, with front-month soybeans trading 17 percent below its June peak and corn down 28 percent.

"Tight soy supply is an underlying factor. Talking about corn and wheat, small traders are all in short right now and only the index traders are long, so it's kind of an oversold situation," said Genichiro Higaki, head of proprietary fund management team at Sumitomo Corp in Tokyo.

"It is quite natural short-covering is coming in as we hear some bullish news (such as corn exports)."

Traders expect U.S. net weekly corn sales to range between 850,000 and 1.2 million tonnes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will unveil its weekly export sales report at 1230 GMT on Thursday.

USDA on Monday said 52.2 million bushels of U.S. corn were inspected for export last week, above trade expectations for 30 million to 35 million.

U.S. farmers continued to delay sales awaiting release of the USDA's August supply and demand report. U.S. soybean supplies are projected to shrink to a 32-year low of 110 million bushels at the end of August, thanks to China's voracious appetite.

China, the world's No.1 soy buyer, revised upwards for the second time its estimate for the country's soybean imports in July to 4.82 million tonnes, exceeding the previous month's actual imports at a record 4.71 million tonnes.

U.S. soybeans for August delivery rose 15-½ cents to $10.73 per bushel by 0405 GMT, while the new-crop November contract was up 7-¾ cents at $9.23-¾ a bushel.

September corn rose 1-¼ cents to $3.22 a bushel and September delivery wheat gained 2-½ cents to $5.14 a bushel.

Analysts said any measures to tighten regulation of speculators in the commodity markets could restrict fund inflows.

"I don't think huge money is coming in from now on because of the possible restriction by the CFTC," said Higaki. "People are a little anxious to see the result of the discussions."

Crude oil and grain futures markets soared to record highs last summer as huge flows of investment money came into the commodity markets just as the economy began unravelling. Americans want stronger federal control of financial markets, even if markets seem to have stabilized after last autumn's world financial meltdown, the head of the U.S. futures regulatory agency said on Tuesday.

He also said there would be serious consideration of setting strict position limits in the energy markets. PRICES AT 0405 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 514.00 2.50 +0.49% -0.44% 521.56 44 CBOT corn 322.00 1.25 +0.39% +0.47% 346.94 39 CBOT soy 1073.00 15.50 +1.47% +1.75% 1113.08 47 CBOT rice $13.80 $0.03 +0.18% +0.15% $12.78 70 WTI crude $63.04 -$0.31 -0.49% -6.23% $65.59 44 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.405 -$0.019 -1.35% -1.16% Front month contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight