Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed modestly higher on Wednesday on technical buying and short-covering ahead of key reports from the US Department of Agriculture, traders said. Analysts expect the USDA on Friday to show a drop in US winter wheat seedings compared to a year ago.
Rallies capped by strong competition for export business amid plentiful world wheat supplies. CBOT March soft red winter wheat settled up 2 cents at $4.34-1/4 a bushel, pushing through resistance at its 50-day moving average near $4.32.
K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended up 1-1/2 cents at $4.40-1/2 a bushel while MGEX March spring wheat rose 3-1/4 cents at $6.34. Ahead of the USDA's weekly export sales report on Thursday, traders expected the government to report wheat export sales of 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes.