Euronext wheat was little changed on Thursday as hopes that a Saudi tender will add to a recent run of European export sales was offset by weakness in Chicago futures.
Front-month March milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange settled 0.25 euro, or 0.1%, higher at 196.00 euros ($211.60) a tonne.
New-crop delivery positions ended slightly lower.
Chicago futures eased as the market consolidated below a three-week high touched earlier in the week, with US traders watching for signs of major Chinese purchases of US crops in the wake of a trade agreement with Washington.
Euronext prices remained underpinned by weakness in the euro, which touched a new low in almost three years against the dollar.
"EU (Paris) futures are up on the week, supported by a weaker euro, with prices in US dollar terms virtually unchanged," British merchant ADM Agriculture said in a note.
The euro's weakness has helped maintain the export competitiveness of EU supplies in the face of a recent decline in prices in top wheat exporter Russia.
A tender announced on Thursday by Saudi Arabia, seeking 715,000 tonnes of wheat for delivery between April and June, raised the prospect of fresh sales for German wheat in one of its main export markets.
"I think there is certainly hope that German wheat could supply a fair slice of the new Saudi tender," one German trader said.
"Of the new tender only 60,000 tonnes is for 11% protein, which would be of interest to Russian suppliers, and the rest is for higher 12.5% protein grades which could be supplied from the Baltic Sea region." Traders have been watching to see if Russia will gain a foothold in the Saudi market after the Middle Eastern country's state buyer SAGO last year opened its wheat tenders to Russian supplies.
In its last reported wheat tender on Oct. 21, SAGO bought 605,000 tonnes, with large volumes later shipped from Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.
In Germany, standard bread wheat with 12% protein for March delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale unchanged at 4.0 euros over the Paris March contract. Buyers were offering up to 2.0 euros over Paris.
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