Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were higher at midmorning on Wednesday as news of US wheat sales to Egypt and Iraq sparked speculative buying, traders said.
Egypt said on Wednesday it bought 115,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat at its latest tender, along with 60,000 tonnes of Canadian soft red wheat. Also, the US Agriculture Department confirmed that Iraq bought an additional 100,000 tonnes of US hard red winter wheat. The news followed confirmation on Tuesday that Iraq bought 200,000 tonnes of US HRW wheat.
As of 10:50 am CDT (1550 GMT), CBOT December wheat was up 4-1/2 cents at $4.44 per bushel, with back months through December 2008 up 4 cents to down 2-1/2. Man Financial bought 1,000 December contracts, traders said.
Wheat futures drew strength from firm cash markets. Basis bids for soft red winter wheat firmed in some US Midwest locations early Wednesday, and CIF values for SRW wheat at the US Gulf firmed after news of the sale to Egypt.
Ideas that wheat futures were overbought limited advances, as did declines in outside commodities, including gold and crude oil. Benchmark New York gold futures fell 2.6 percent, hitting a four-month low at $566 an ounce. Crude oil fell to an seven-month low below $58 a barrel.
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