Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Thursday after a choppy session, following trends in a volatile, weather-driven corn market, traders said. "Wheat has been a follower in here today. Corn has been the most active," one floor trader said.
CBOT July wheat settled up 2-3/4 cents at $3.34-3/4 per bushel, with most-active September up 2 at $3.44 and deferred months up 1-1/2 to down 1/2 cent.
Volume was light, estimated by the exchange at 27,883 futures and 2,930 options.
Funds bought about 2,000 contracts on the day, traders said.
Uncertainty about the weather was the feature as grain traders weighed whether Hurricane Dennis might provide much-needed moisture for row crops in the US Midwest, especially Illinois, next week.
The unpredictability of the storm's direction kept the market gyrating for much of the day. Some midday updates had the storm tracking farther east after hitting US shores on Sunday. That path would likely mean less Midwest rain.
"We were seeing weather updates every 10 minutes. It was painful," one trader said.
Weaker financial markets after bombings in London's transit system added volatility.
Fundamental news was shunted to the background, including pressure from the waning US winter wheat harvest. USDA said the harvest was 62 percent complete as of Sunday, and the Meteorlogix weather service said weather maps indicate overall favourable conditions for cutting wheat.
Export action overnight included Japan's purchase of 125,000 tonnes of wheat, with 40,000 tonnes coming from the United States. Taiwan passed on a tender for 46,200 tonnes of US wheat because of a disagreement over prices.
Deliveries on the CBOT July contract were modest at 220 lots. The ADM house account stopped 78 lots and the Tenco house account stopped 46.
Registrations with the CBOT dropped to 1,701 lots from the previous 2,115.
Cash basis bids for soft red winter wheat in the Midwest were steady early on Thursday and farmer selling was slow.
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