Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Thursday on technical selling and profit-taking after the benchmark May contract reached a 1-1/2-week high in early moves, traders said. The May contract settled down 4-1/4 cents at $4.52-3/4 per bushel after rising to $4.59-1/2, its highest since February 17.
K.C. May hard red winter wheat ended down 7 cents at $4.70-1/4 a bushel and MGEX May spring wheat fell 8-1/2 cents at $5.53. Additional pressure stemmed from a firmer dollar, which tends to make US grains less competitive globally, and broad weakness in commodities. The 19-market Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index fell nearly 1.3 percent.
Wheat futures underpinned by forecasts for dry weather in the southern Plains wheat belt. The US Department of Agriculture reported weekly export sales of 353,200 tonnes of old-crop US wheat, in line with trade expectations, and 98,800 tonnes of new-crop wheat, below expectations. The CBOT reported 790 deliveries against the CBOT March wheat contract and six K.C. March wheat deliveries. There were no deliveries of MGEX March spring wheat.
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