Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose 1.5 percent to their highest in nearly three weeks as investors that shorted the market earlier this year continued to unwind their bearish positions, traders said. CBOT wheat has risen for four straight days, gaining 6.5 percent during that time.
The benchmark CBOT March contract on Wednesday broke through its 30-day moving average for the first time since November 16. The technical strength overcame concerns about light demand for US wheat in the export markets. Analysts expecting a weekly US Agriculture Department report to show wheat export sales in range from 300,000 to 450,000 tonnes compared to 318,300 tonnes last week.
A group of Israeli private buyers bought 30,000 tonnes of feed wheat, likely from Ukraine, in a tender. Prices for the wheat ranged from $247.50 to $248.50 a tonne c&f, European traders said. Tunisia bought 125,000 tonnes of durum in tender for 75,000 tonnes - European traders.
European wheat is still uncompetitive on the global export market despite the euro's recent weakness, German trading house Toepfer International said in a report. Flour mill in Qatar bought unknown volume of wheat from a Dubai-based trading company in tender for 20,000 tonnes of milling wheat, European traders said.