Hard red winter wheat futures at the Kansas City Board of Trade were called to open steady to 1 cent higher on Thursday, with some expecting two-sided action amid a scarcity of market-moving news, traders said.
The weakness of Wednesday that left deferred contracts lower and mixed movement overnight could spill into Thursday's trade, some market observers said. Still others predicted a bounce back led by speculative buying in Chicago Board of Trade corn futures.
Of note Thursday, Japan's Agriculture Ministry bought 65,000 tonnes of US wheat, including 20,000 tonnes of hard red winter wheat as part of a total purchase of 125,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States, Canada and Australia. Shipment is scheduled between late December and January.
USDA said Thursday that export sales of US wheat last week totalled 323,100 tonnes, within trade estimates for 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes.
HRW wheat futures ended 3 cents lower to 5 cents higher Wednesday, with December up 3 cents at $5.21-3/4 per bushel and March up 5 cents at $5.36-1/2. Technical support for December delivery was pegged at $5.09-1/2 with resistance at $5.29.
Traders were looking ahead to the January 12 USDA winter wheat acreage report, the first forecast for the 2007 crop, and expectations were ranging from an increase of 4-15 percent in HRW wheat acres over 2006.
The nine-day relative strength index for the December contract stood at 51 ahead of the opening. Chart-watchers consider 30 and below a sign of an oversold market and 70 and above indicative of overbought conditions.
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