CBOT wheat firms on technical buying, spread trading

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures climbed for a second straight session on Thursday, lifted by technical buying and spread trading as some index funds rolled positions forward as part of the five-day "Goldman roll" period.

* CBOT September soft red winter wheat ended 10-1/4 cents higher at $4.98-1/2 per bushel. Buying accelerated as the contract breached technical resistance at its 20- and 100-day moving averages.

* K.C. September hard red winter wheat rose 3/4 cent to $4.18-1/2 a bushel, and MGEX September spring wheat fell 1/2 cent to $5.20-1/2.

* Traders are squaring positions ahead of next week's US Department of Agriculture (USDA) supply-and-demand report.

* Concerns about stiff competition in global export markets have hung over wheat futures, although export sales last week were near the high end of a range of trade expectations.

* Weekly USDA export sales data included 60,000 tonnes of spring wheat sold to China. It was the country's largest wheat purchase in nearly two years and came ahead of a worsening of trade tensions with the United States.

* Saudi Arabia will relax its bug-damage specifications for wheat imports from its next tender onwards, it told Reuters on Thursday, opening the door to Black Sea imports. Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, has long sought access to Saudi Arabia's wheat market.