US Wheat Review on Thursday: Closes higher in bounce from weakness

 

 

U.S. wheat futures bounced Thursday on positioning and in a recovery from recent losses.

 

Chicago Board of Trade May wheat rose 6 1/2 cents to US$5.14 1/2 a bushel. Kansas City Board of Trade May wheat gained 5 cents to US$5.60, and Minneapolis Grain Exchange May wheat jumped 7 3/4 cents to US$6.12 3/4.

 

Wheat was due for a rebound after falling hard Tuesday and Wednesday, traders said. "I think yesterday we may have overdone it," said Dave Marshall, an independent marketing adviser and commodities.

 

CBOT July wheat, which represents the new crop, bounced after testing trendline support around US$5.20 on Wednesday, Marshall said. The contract closed up 6 1/4 cents at US$5.27 on Thursday.

 

Traders continued to monitor forecasts for precipitation in dry hard red winter wheat areas of the U.S. central and southern Plains. Expectations that precipitation will help boost crop conditions weighed on prices earlier this week and continued to hang over the markets, a trader said.

 

The DTN Meteorlogix forecast for the southern Plains called for rain and snow to cover most of the region for the next several days, with additional chances for precipitation next week.

 

However, the markets paused Thursday to consider how much the moisture will help the crop rebound after the dry winter, Marshall said.

 

 

Kansas City Board of Trade

 

KCBT wheat rose in "a little bit of turnaround action" after the recent losses, a floor trader said. Market chatter continued to focus on the weather, as HRW wheat is traded at the KCBT, he said.

 

There appears to be significant promise of moderate to heavy precipitation in much of the driest areas of the western Plains within the next few days, according to Meteorlogix. The moisture should be "pretty beneficial if in fact it turns out the way its forecast," a floor trader said.

 

KCBT July wheat closed up 4 3/4 cents at US$5.70 3/4.

 

 

Minneapolis Grain Exchange

 

Traders were looking ahead and positioning a bit before the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's prospective plantings report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, a trader said. The report will include estimates on plantings of durum and other spring wheat. The USDA also will issue estimates on quarterly grain stocks.

 

Excessive wetness in the Dakotas continued to generate attention, an analyst said. Spring fieldwork and planting of hard spring wheat could be delayed due to flooding and soggy soils around the Red River, he said.

 

In other news, the USDA said total weekly U.S. wheat export sales were 388,200 tonnes for the week ended March 19. That was within trade estimates of 200,000 tonnes to 450,000 tonnes.