US wheat futures fell for the third straight session on Wednesday, hitting a two-week low on big global supplies and a government report that pegged US winter wheat crop ratings above market expectations. Corn also slumped to a seven-month low on spillover pressure from sinking wheat and positive US crop ratings, while soyabeans firmed in a rebound from contract lows the previous day.
"There's still concerns about the wheat quality problems in the southern Plains, but last night's crop progress report muted those concerns for the moment," said analyst Craig Hays of the Linn Group in Chicago. Wheat has fallen sharply from 1-1/2-month highs last week and breached technical support at the 50-day moving average, which added selling to pressure, he said.
Chicago Board of Trade July soft red winter wheat was down 5-3/4 cents, or 1 percent, at $4.87-3/4 a bushel while July hard red winter wheat shed 12-1/2 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $5.12 a bushel. An optimistic wheat production outlook for southern Russia added pressure to prices, although some areas need rain to realise yields, according to crop scouts surveying the area.
Strong corn condition ratings weighed on that grain as the US Department of Agriculture said 74 percent of the US crop was in good-to-excellent shape and just 3 percent was poor. CBOT July corn fell 5-1/2 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $3.49-1/2 a bushel, the lowest level for a spot month since October. July soyabeans rose 4-1/2 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $9.27 a bushel as soyameal prices gained about 2 percent amid strong crush margins in the United States. Commodity funds sold a net 11,000 corn contracts on the day along with a net 4,000 wheat contracts, but were net buyers of 4,000 soyabean contracts, trade sources estimated.
Comments
Comments are closed.