CHICAGO: Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose to a three-month high on Thursday on a mix of technical buying and short-covering, coupled with spillover strength from corn, traders said.
Open interest in CBOT wheat has dropped sharply in recent weeks, falling below 350,000 contracts for the first time since December 2009, as commodity funds exit short positions.
Concern about political instability in Ukraine, a significant exporter of corn and wheat, added support.
USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the latest week at 556,100 tonnes for 2013/14, above trade expectations, but sales for 2014/15 were light at 44,400 tonnes.
Front-month MGEX spring wheat rose 39-3/4 cents to $7.41-1/4 a bushel, a four-month high on continuous charts, after the Term Commodities house account stopped 107 deliveries against the thinly March traded contract.
Back months in MGEX wheat posted smaller gains.
There were no deliveries against March CBOT or KC hard red winter wheat futures.
Two storms will bring light precipitation to the southern US Plains in the next seven days, but the region's hard red winter wheat will need more in the coming weeks as it emerges from dormancy and resumes growth.
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