KCBT wheat settles mostly higher

Hard red winter wheat futures at the Kansas City Board of Trade ended mostly higher on Thursday, boosted by better-than-expected exports and price strength in row crops, traders said.
The market put in its session highs by midday as December rose as high as $5.37-1/4 and March rose to $5.51. But the rally lost steam headed into the close, and prices settled 1/2 cent lower to 6 cents higher with the December up 5 cents at $5.24 and the March up 1-1/4 cents at $5.36-1/2. Volume was estimated at 13,630 lots.
Man Financial was the featured player, buying 1,000 December, 700 March and 500 July and selling 600 December. Also, J.P. Morgan bought 300 December and sold 200 December and 200 March, ADM bought 300 December and sold 400 July, Frontier bought 200 December, 300 March and sold 200 March, Fimat USA bought 200 December and sold 300 December and 300 March and 200 May, Country Hedging traded 200 December and 200 March and 200 July, Prudential traded 200 December and sold 300 March, and UBS traded 200 December and 400 July and bought 200 March, floor sources said.
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures led grain price gains, with nearby corn ending up 11-1/4 cents supported by estimates for a smaller crop than the USDA projected in October.
Wheat prices got an additional boost from strong export sales figures. The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday said export sales of US wheat last week totalled 938,800 tonnes, above trade estimates for 450,000 to 650,000 tonnes.
The bullish nature of that news, however, was at least partly offset by word that Japan's Agriculture Ministry cancelled a planned purchase of 40,000 tonnes of US wheat and 20,000 tonnes from Australia due to high prices.
Also limiting further gains were forecasts for rain showers in the Plains hard red winter wheat belt early next week. Private forecaster Meteorlogix said beneficial rain on Monday through Wednesday could total up to 1.5 inches in southern Oklahoma and north-central Texas.
The nine-day relative strength index stood at 49 in the December contract after Thursday's closing bell. Chart-watchers consider the 70-and-above level indicative of an overbought market and the 30-and-below level a sign of oversold conditions.