Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade continued to slide on Friday, hit by fund long liquidation over the last three sessions, traders said.
Lackluster export demand and easing concerns about the shape of the US hard red winter wheat crop after rains across the Plains this week loom over the market.
CBOT wheat futures through May 2005 ended 4 to 8-1/4 cents per bushel lower. May wheat was down 6 at $3.73, while new-crop July was 4-1/4 lower at $3.82-3/4.
The July contract broke key support at the 100-day moving average of $3.86 in overnight e-cbot trade.
Commodity funds sold an estimated 5,000 lots, pit traders said. Commercial Cargill Inc bought 1,000 July.
Friday was also the last trading for May options, which went off the board quietly, traders said.
Estimated volume was 36,392 for futures and 12,296 for options.
The market closed weaker despite oversold conditions. Wheat traded at five-week lows, with the nine-day relative strength index for July wheat at 25 at the close - below the 30 level considered oversold.
"There are some hopes that Egypt might come in with the recent break," one cash-connected CBOT floor trader said.
After the close, Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities tendered for 50,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes of US, French, Australian, Canadian or Argentine milling wheat. GASC said it would release results on Saturday.
But traders brushed off projections for a smaller 2004 Canadian wheat crop. Statistics Canada reported total 2004 Canadian wheat planting intentions were down 2.1 percent from last year at 25.713 million acres, just above analysts' estimates of 25.3 million acres. But the Chicago soft red winter wheat market continued to lose ground to Minneapolis hard red spring wheat futures.
Some background support stemmed from a report of stripe rust disease affecting China's wheat crop.
China was already projected to reap its smallest winter wheat crop in 20 years.