* The benchmark CBOT December soft red winter wheat contract , which fell through key technical support at its 50-day moving average of $8.67-1/4 a bushel during Thursday's session, rose 4.5 percent during the seven-day advance.

* Hard red winter wheat futures at the Kansas City Board of Trade also fell, but declines were limited by concerns about dry weather damaging the crop in the US Plains.

* The US Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning weekly export sales of wheat were 279,300 tonnes, down from 657,400 tonnes a week ago and below forecasts for 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes.

* The International Grains Council cut its forecast for the 2012/13 global wheat crop by 1 million tonnes to 654 million tonnes due to production woes in Australia and the European Union.

* Dry weather in the US Plains continues to cause concern about the newly seeded hard red winter wheat crop and little rain is in the forecast for next 10 days, said Andy Karst, meteorologist for World Weather Inc.