US Wheat Review on Friday: Extends rally, posts solid gains for week

 

 

U.S. wheat futures extended gains Friday amid support from fund buying and closed with solid gains on the week.

 

Chicago Board of Trade December wheat closed up 7 1/4 cents at US$5.39 a bushel, up 41 3/4 cents on the week. Kansas City Board of Trade December wheat rose 5 1/2 cents to US$5.40 1/2, and Minneapolis Grain Exchange December wheat finished up 7 1/4 cents at US$5.55 3/4.

 

Commodity funds bought an estimated 3,000 wheat contracts at the CBOT. The market has found support lately from fund and technical buying.

 

CBOT wheat's technical picture looks friendly after recent gains, a trader said. Fundamentals remain weak due to large world supplies and tepid export demand.

 

Wheat moved higher in early dealings, despite slipping during the overnight session, and stayed higher in light volume. CBOT Dec wheat on the screen traded in a 12 3/4-cent range of US$5.40 1/4 per bushel to US$5.27 1/2.

 

Wheat will likely keep an eye on the neighboring CBOT corn and soy markets for direction, a broker said. Corn finished unchanged Friday, while soy ended mostly lower.

 

"It's the end of the week," said John Kleist, broker and analyst for Allendale. Wheat's "brethren markets aren't doing much either," he said.

 

There continued to be some talk about quality problems with U.S. corn, which "hints a tilt in wheat's favor" because both grains can be used for animal feed, Kleist said. There are abundant supplies of feed wheat, he added.

 

 

Kansas City Board of Trade

 

KCBT December wheat ended up 39 1/2 cents on the week.

 

Volume was light, and there was a lack of news, traders said. It was noted that the U.S. dollar was weaker, which is often seen as friendly because it makes grains more attractive to foreign buyers.

 

"There wasn't a whole lot of activity going on," a KCBT trader said.

 

Traders on Monday will take a look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report to see how much winter wheat has been planted in the U.S. Planting was 86% complete as of Nov. 8, below the average of 93%.

 

 

Minneapolis Grain Exchange

 

MGE December wheat ended up 37 1/2 cents on the week.

 

Weekly U.S. wheat export sales of 412,200 tonnes were within trade expectations. Total export sales were up 45% from the previous week but down 5% from the prior four-week average, according to USDA. The pace of export sales is already "far behind" due to competition for export business from other countries with surplus supplies, a trader said.