CHICAGO: U.S. wheat futures closed lower on Friday on expectations for increasing global supplies, with hard wheat markets touching their lowest prices in months, analysts said.

CBOT March soft red winter wheat settled down 5-1/4 cents at $7.41-3/4 per bushel and touched its lowest price since Jan. 7.

K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended down 14-3/4 cents at $7.45 a bushel and reached its lowest price since Oct. 15.

MGEX March spring wheat fell 17-1/4 cents to finish at $8.78-1/4 and hit its lowest price since Sept. 22.

The markets will be closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr holiday in the United States.

Futures have extended losses since the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday pegged domestic winter wheat plantings and global ending stocks above analysts’ estimates.

Algeria’s state grains agency purchased around 600,000 tonnes of milling wheat in an international tender in which French wheat was reportedly overlooked again, European traders said.

Euronext wheat fell for a third day to hit a new three-month low as talk that Algeria had again overlooked French supplies in a latest tender added to doubts about European export prospects.