January 23, 2010
US Wheat Review on Friday: Finishes near unchanged, down on the week
U.S. wheat futures finished near unchanged Friday as the markets consolidated after a sharp recent drop, but solid weekly export sales data attracted traders' attention.
Chicago Board of Trade March wheat ended down 1 cent, or 0.2%, at US$4.98 1/2 a bushel. The contract lost 11.5 cents, or 2.3%, for the week.
Kansas City Board of Trade March wheat slipped 1 1/2 cents, or 0.3%, to US$5.02. Minneapolis Grain Exchange March wheat finished unchanged at US$5.12 1/2.
Wheat pulled back a bit after ending mostly higher Thursday in a small bounce, a trader said. The markets have tumbled since the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Jan. 12 raised its forecasts for U.S. and world wheat ending stocks.
There are jitters about President Barack Obama's push for bank reform amid concerns it may pull fund money out of the grains, an analyst said. Fears and uncertainty about the plan were hanging over the markets, he said.
Commodity funds sold an estimated 1,000 wheat contracts at CBOT.
Kansas City Board of Trade
KCBT March wheat ended down 10 cents, or 2%, on the week.
Larger-than-expected weekly U.S. wheat export sales helped limit losses Friday, traders said. The USDA said total sales were 886,300, above trade expectations of 200,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes. Sales for delivery in the 2009-10 marketing year, which runs through the end of May, were a marketing-year high of 825,800 tonnes.
Analysts said the sales were encouraging after months of sluggish export demand due to competition for business from foreign countries. However, world supplies of wheat remain large, and it's too early to say an improved demand trend has started, they said.
Minneapolis Grain Exchange
MGE March wheat ended down 8 cents, or 1.5%, on the week.
Wheat is moving into a consolidation mode after falling hard during the past week and a half, traders said. The markets avoided steeper losses in the neighboring CBOT corn market, which ended down about 7 cents.
