MGE wheat settles firm

Spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange closed modestly higher in a shortened, pre-holiday session on Wednesday, following strength in Chicago Board of Trade wheat, traders said. The market closed at noon CST (1800 GMT) and will remain closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day. The MGE will close at noon CST again on Friday.
CBOT wheat rallied on bear spreading, with new-crop July leading other months up. In Minneapolis, spot December spring wheat ended 1 cent higher at $5.00-1/2 per bushel, with March up 1-1/4 cents at $5.15-1/2 and deferreds unchanged to up 6-1/4 cents.
Volume was estimated by the exchange at 3,967 contracts, down from 8,990 on Tuesday UBS Warburg bought 300 March and spread 300 December-March, traders said.
The December-March spread traded lightly at 15 to 15-3/4 cents as traders continued to roll December positions forward. News that Egypt bought 60,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat added to the bullish tone, although sales of US wheat continue to lag last year's pace.
Egypt also bought 120,000 tonnes of French milling wheat at its latest tender. Export activity overnight-featured Japan buying 170,000 tonnes of wheat at its weekly tender, including 90,000 tonnes of US origin. South Korea set a tender for 21,200 tonnes of wheat. Syria sold 9,000 tonnes of soft milling wheat to Iraq and 5,000 tonnes of durum wheat to a buyer in Turkey in a tender that closed on Tuesday, European traders said.
Private forecaster Meteorlogix said warm and dry weather over the next five days in the US Plains would continue to deplete soil moisture in the hard red winter wheat belt. But some forecasting models predicted a better chance for rain in the region on Tuesday to Wednesday of next week. Showers in China should bring 0.25 to 1 inch of rain to the Yangtze River Valley, but will mostly Miss key wheat areas farther north, including Shandong and Henan provinces, Meteorlogix say.
After the close, the Minneapolis exchange said it had sold a membership for a record $70,000. That was nearly triple the value of two memberships that sold in November 2005 for $27,500.