US MIDDAY: wheat falls on spill-over selling

15 May, 2004

Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade tumbled early on Friday on spill-over selling from plunging corn and soy, traders said.
CBOT soy fell to its 50-cent-per-bushel limit, corn broke to a three-month low and wheat abruptly turned down from its higher open, which had been inspired by fresh weather worries.
At 10:08 am CDT (1508 GMT), CBOT wheat was down 4-1/4 to 7-3/4 cents per bushel, with May down 4-1/4 at $3.55. New-crop July was down 8-1/4 at $3.61.
Refco Inc sold 500 July, FIMAT Futures sold 500 July and UBS Warburg sold 200 July.
FIMAT also bought 500 July $3.80 calls in the wheat options pit, pit sources said.
Traders said the falling soy and corn markets, amid nearly ideal crop weather for each, overrode early bullish ideas that were stemming from concerns about a cold snap early Friday in parts of the US winter wheat belt.
The cold weather, centred in the Plains States, may have harmed some of the crop because it is in its key heading and flowering stage of development.

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