Hard red winter wheat futures on the Kansas City Board of Trade ended mixed in light to moderate volume on Tuesday ahead of the market holiday in consolidation efforts after last week's rally to fresh 11-year highs, traders said.
Settled prices ranged from 3 cents higher to 12 cents lower, with the July contract up 3 cents at $5.85 per bushel after ranging from $5.76 to $5.85-1/2. The September closed up 1/2 cent at its session high of $5.85 after falling as low as $5.72-1/2 on the day.
At the close, the nine-day relative strength index for July wheat stood at 58, under the 70-and-above point considered indicative of overbought conditions, and well above the oversold level of 30-and-below. Weakness seen in outside wheat markets and in corn and soybean futures contributed to the overall bearish tone Tuesday that took wheat prices down early.
But end user interest and light consolidation ahead of the Fourth of July holiday on Wednesday helped even the market up at the close. "This market technically has rolled over and is pointed lower, but the overall bull story of world supply and world wheat quality has not gone away," said one KCBT trader.
Traders continued to eye harvest results coming in from Kansas, the top US wheat-producing state. Harvest progress there and elsewhere in the Plains has been delayed due to rains. Quality and yields have been variable. The USDA said late Monday that the US winter wheat harvest was 40 percent completed, behind the 54 percent five-year average.
In world wheat news Tuesday, Hungary's average wheat crop yield was expected to be around 3.6-3.7 tonnes per hectare after about half of this year's crop was harvested, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday. On the export front, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture offered to buy 100,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States, Canada and Australia at a weekly tender closing on Friday.