Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose on Tuesday as a decline in US crop ratings and news of radioactive pollution in the Ural Mountains triggered a round of short-covering and concern about wheat exports from Russia, the world's top supplier. CBOT December soft red winter wheat settled up 2-3/4 cents at $4.24-3/4 per bushel. K.C. December hard red winter wheat ended up 4-1/4 cents at $4.20-1/4 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat rose 3/4 cent to $6.27.
Wheat firmed after Russia's meteorological service said it had measured pollution of a radioactive isotope at nearly 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural Mountains. That marked the first official Russian data supporting reports that a nuclear incident had taken place in Russia or Kazakhstan in the last week of September.
The Russian news reminded some traders of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, which sparked a rally in CBOT grain futures. But others were skeptical about the market impact of the contamination, and attributed Tuesday's strength in wheat to technical buying and short-covering. Funds hold a sizable net short position in CBOT wheat futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering.
Published under arrangements with Reuters.
No content from Business Recorder shall be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Business Recorder shall not be responsible or held liable for any error of fact, opinion or recommendation and also for any loss, financial or otherwise, resulting from business or trade or speculation conducted, or investments made, on the basis of the information posted here. Nor shall Business Recorder be held liable for any actions taken in consequence." >Copyright Reuters, 2017