US wheat futures fell for a fifth straight session on Friday and hit contract lows in most traded months as ample global supplies and tepid demand weighed on prices, traders said. Trading was light in the abbreviated session ahead of the long Christmas holiday weekend. Markets will be closed on Monday for the holiday.
Most-active Chicago Board of Trade March wheat settled down 3-1/2 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $3.93-1/2 per bushel. The contract shed 3.8 percent in the week, the steepest weekly decline for a spot contract in four months. The March 2017 through May 2018 contracts notched life-of-contract lows during the session.
KC hard red winter wheat and MGEX spring wheat also declined. Good crop weather in many US winter wheat producing areas bolstered expectations for large yields at a time when US and global supplies are already burdensome, a shift from harsh cold to milder conditions in the southern Plains and Midwest have reduced worries about damage to the currently dormant crop.
Open interest in CBOT wheat expanded to the largest in more than a month during Thursday's session of lower prices, CME Group preliminary data showed, suggesting investors were extending their massive net short. India's wheat stocks in April next year, when the new season begins, are likely to be at their lowest levels in more than a decade, traders and industry experts said.
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