CBOT wheat ends mixed, gains early on Iraqi sale

Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Tuesday, with the nearby months hit by speculative profit-taking late in the trading session, traders said.
But the deferred months held firm into the close and the wheat market found overall bullishness in early dealings following news of the first major sale of US wheat to Iraq in more than six years.
USDA on Tuesday said US exporters sold 110,000 tonnes of old-crop hard red winter wheat to Iraq, the first large sale of US wheat to that country since the late 1990s.
CBOT wheat closed 1 cent lower to 3-1/2 cents higher, with May down 1 at $3.72.
After the close, Egypt said it was seeking offers to buy 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of US, French, Australian, Canadian and/or Argentine wheat for late April shipment.
Wheat in early dealings also resumed a technical recovery that began after it fell sharply last week into oversold territory, traders said. But they noted that upward momentum has been marginal, so the lack of strong buying volume early in the session allowed the light sales near the close to press May and July into the minus column.
Trade volume was light, estimated at 15,778 futures and 1,634 options.
Traders continued to look for signs China will ship more of the wheat it recently bought from the United States.
Monday's USDA weekly export inspections report showed China shipped roughly 45,000 tonnes of US wheat from the Pacific Northwest, but slightly more than 1 million tonnes of old-crop wheat remained unshipped as of the week ended March 4.
Crop weather in the US Plains remains a trading point. Recent rainfall in the dry areas helped spur crop development but more rain is needed, especially in the dry areas of the western Plains.
Dry weather since late last summer has plagued the crop in western Kansas, eastern Colorado and western Nebraska. But significant rainfall in early March helped stem concerns about continued deterioration of the crop.
Technical support in the May contract was at $3.65-1/2 and resistance at $3.74-1/2 was broken, driving the contract to a session high of $3.77.
The nine-day relative strength index for May was at 54 prior to the open on Tuesday. Chartists view an RSI of 30 or less as an oversold market and 70 or more as an overbought market.