US wheat futures rose on Friday due to short covering and better-than-expected export sales, traders said. The Chicago Board of Trade March wheat futures contract rose 16 cents to close at $5.82-3/4 a bushel while the May contract gained 16 cents to $5.95-1/2 a bushel. Funds bought 3,000 lots.
Large open interest in February call options at $6 level pulled March wheat futures close that level ahead of February option expiration. Large speculators expanded their net short position in CBOT wheat futures and options in the week ended January 20. Non-commercial traders were net short 29,974 lots in wheat, up 9,204 from the previous week. An estimated 85,524 CBOT wheat futures contracts traded on Friday. Options volume was seen at 12,998. In Kansas City, wheat futures received support from a rebound in the crude oil market, which had fallen early in the trading day.
The Kansas City Board of Trade March contract settled up 12-1/2 cents, or 2 percent, at $6.10-1/2 while the KCBT May contract rose 12-1/2 cents at $6.21-1/4 a bushel. Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat for March delivery rose 9-1/4 cents to $6.60-3/4 a bushel. MGE May wheat ended 7-3/4 cents higher at $6.52-1/2 a bushel. In Minneapolis, an estimated 8,493 futures traded while Kansas City volume was seen at 9,836 futures.
The US Agriculture Department said export sales last week totalled 413,200 tonnes (old-crop/new-crop), above estimates for 150,000 to 350,000 tonnes. Export prospects, which have been extremely weak in recent months due to high prices for US supplies, picked up as drought in Argentina threatened crop production there, an analyst said. But US wheat was still a tough sell to foreign buyers.
Exporters cancelled sales of 356,000 tonnes US hard red winter wheat to Nigeria. Prices of EU wheat seen competitive on world market, export outlook improved. Manila buys 40,000 tonnes Ukrainian feed wheat. Cold weather in US Plains HRW wheat region not seen as a serious threat to crop and precipitation is needed in the southern and west-central crop region.
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