Chicago wheat rises as traders weigh impact of dry weather in US, Russia

CANBERRA: Chicago wheat futures rose on Wednesday as traders assessed the likely impact on supply amid dry weather conditions in key growing regions of Russia and the United States.

Soybean futures fell for a second day, dragged lower by a sharp decline in soyoil prices and a strengthening dollar, which pressured US farm goods by making them more expensive for importers. Corn was flat.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.6% at $6.06-3/4 a bushel, as of 0039 GMT, while CBOT soybeans were down 0.4% at $11.58-3/4 a bushel and corn was flat at $4.46-3/4 a bushel.

All three contracts fell to four-year lows earlier this year due to plentiful supply and the accumulation of large bearish bets by speculative investors anticipating lower prices. Concerns that dryness would hit crops in the southern US Plains wheat belt and in southern Russia pushed CBOT wheat to a four-month high of $6.33-1/4 on Friday, with speculators forced to cover some of their short positions.

But forecasts this week have predicted some rainfall in Russia in the coming days, pushing prices off their highs, and large exports from Russia continue.