July 26, 2006

 

US Wheat Review on Tuesday: US wheat futures end down, minneapolis grain exchange leads

 

 

U.S. wheat futures settled lower Tuesday as technical and fund selling pressured prices, sources said.

 

Futures began the session at higher levels benefiting from stronger prices overnight and spillover from firm corn and soybean prices, sources said.

 

However, light fund selling and the lack of buying interest pressured prices at the CBOT, floor sources there said.

 

There was just not a lot of interest in buying wheat futures today, a CBOT commercial connected analyst said. Soft red wheat futures followed the other wheat markets lower, he added.

 

The lack of any significant changes in spring wheat crop conditions also limited buying interest, he added.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 34% of the U.S. spring wheat crop was in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week and better than the 1-to-3 percentage point decline expected.

 

CBOT September wheat fell 7 1/4 cents to US$3.93 1/4 and December also declined 7 1/4 cents to US$4.13 1/2.

 

On technical charts December ended below its 10-, 20-, 40- and 50-day moving averages.

 

In CBOT trades, ADM bought 300 September, Prudential Financial bought 300 September, Rand Financial bought 300 September and Rosenthal bought 800 September.

 

Goldenberg-Hehmeyer sold 600 September, Man Financial sold 500 September, and Fimat sold 300 September.

 

Commodity fund selling was estimated at 900 contracts.

 

 

Kansas City Board of Trade

 

KCBT wheat futures ended lower, pressed by technical selling and light fund selling in moderate activity, a KCBT commission house broker said. The market sold off mid-session as there was some technical selling and a little bit of fund selling, but there was just no buying interest at all, he said. Overall it was a pretty quiet session, he added.

 

In midday KCBT trades, Fimat bought 100 December and sold 200 September. JP Morgan bought and sold 100 September, ADM sold 100 September and Prudential sold 100 September.

 

KCBT September fell 6 3/4 cents to US$4.99 1/4 per bushel and December lost 5 3/4 cents to US$5.15 3/4.

 

On day only technical charts, KCBT December finished below most nearby moving averages but above its 100-day and 200-day moving averages.

 

 

Minneapolis Grain Exchange

 

Spring wheat futures ended lower, also dragged down by technical and fund selling with fund selling estimated at 1,000-1,500 contracts. The lack of a significant decline in the weekly spring wheat conditions report and scattered talk that early harvested spring wheat yields were better than expected kept prices on the defensive, an MGE floor trader said. Technical selling helped the market break through near term support levels in September and December, he added.

 

On day only technical charts, both September and December traded an outside day with a higher high and a lower low than Monday's price range.

 

Sellers at the MGE included UBS, ADM and JP Morgan, sources said.

 

MGE September wheat declined 11 3/4 cents to US$4.86 1/2 per bushel and December fell 11 cents to US$4.95.

 

Minneapolis grain receipts totaled 182 cars of wheat and 69 cars of durum, compared to 287 cars of wheat and 37 cars of durum a year ago.