CBOT wheat ends higher on short-covering, US weather worries

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on short-covering following a five-session slide and worries that wintry weather in the northern US Plains could curb spring wheat plantings, traders said.

CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled up 2-1/2 cents at $4.60-1/2 per bushel.

K.C. May hard red winter wheat ended up 4-1/4 cents at $4.30-1/2 a bushel and Minneapolis Grain Exchange May spring wheat rose 3 cents to $5.33-1/4.

Heavy snow with blizzard conditions was expected through Thursday night in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, the US National Weather Service said.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week said US spring planting was 1 percent complete, lagging the five-year average of 5 percent, and nothing had been seeded in North Dakota, the biggest spring wheat producer.

Commodity funds hold a sizable net short position in CBOT wheat, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering.

The USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the week to April 4 at 474,400 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), in line with trade expectations.

Algeria's state grains agency bought at least 330,000 tonnes of optional-origin milling wheat in a tender, traders said. Part of the purchase was expected to be sourced from France, while competitively priced US hard red winter wheat was also seen as a possible choice.