US Wheat Review on Thursday: Closes higher in technical rebound

 

 

U.S. wheat futures finished higher Thursday in a technical recovery after having fallen to four-month lows.

 

Chicago Board of Trade March wheat ended up 6 3/4 cents, or 1.4%, at US$4.75 3/4 a bushel. Kansas City Board of Trade March wheat rose 5 1/4 cents, or 1.1%, to US$4.88 1/2. Minneapolis Grain Exchange March wheat gained 3 cents, or 0.6%, to US$5.01 3/4.

 

The market bounced after CBOT March wheat probed key support around US$4.60, said Dan Manternach, agriculture services director and Doane Advisory Services. The contract's session low was US$4.66 1/2, its lowest price since Oct. 6.

 

"I think we just ran out of willing sellers at what everybody thinks might be support," he said.

 

Commodity funds bought an estimated 4,000 contracts at CBOT.

 

The markets' fundamental story line has not changed and is still "quite bearish," an analyst said. U.S. and world supplies are large, and competition for export business is tough.

 

Egypt's state-owned wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, booked 240,000 tonnes of Russian, Kazakh and French wheat in a tender. U.S. wheat is "still not competitive from the Egyptian perspective," Manternach said. Egypt is a major buyer on the world wheat market and known for being price-sensitive.

 

 

Kansas City Board of Trade

 

KCBT March bounced after setting a session low of US$4.80 1/4, its lowest price since Oct. 6. The markets were in an oversold condition and due for a rebound after heavy recent losses, traders said. Short-covering helped support the recovery, they said.

 

Total weekly U.S. wheat-export sales of 482,700 tonnes were within trade expectations of 300,000 to 650,000 tonnes. The sales were not strong enough to turn heads, a broker said.

 

 

Minneapolis Grain Exchange

 

MGE March wheat fell to a session low of US$4.97, its lowest price since Oct. 5.

 

Traders are starting to look ahead to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's February supply-and-demand report, due out Tuesday. Trading should remain choppy and sideways ahead of the report, a trader said.