Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed down sharply on Thursday following news Egypt bought 120,000 tonnes of wheat from France and none from the United States, traders said.
Wheat closed 2-1/2 cents to 6 cents per bushel lower, with July down 5-3/4 at $3.39-1/2.
Volume was on the large side estimated at 34,713 futures and 5,987 options.
Egypt's main wheat buyer said early Thursday it bought the wheat for shipment in early August and declined to say what price Egypt paid. Earlier this week, Egypt cancelled a tender for wheat because prices were too high.
Some wheat traders had been banking on a sale of US wheat to Egypt after CBOT wheat futures prices fell sharply to eight-month lows on Tuesday.
Some traders had been expecting wheat to hold firm on Thursday because of the potential for a short-covering technical rebound after the market slide Tuesday left it in oversold territory on charts.
The nine-day relative strength index for the July contract closed Wednesday at 29, below the benchmark 30 level that chartists view as an oversold mark.
Traders had a neutral reaction to the US Department of Agriculture's export sales report showing wheat sales last week at 440,000 tonnes (2004/05), within the range of estimates for 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes.
The seasonal harvest remained a bearish factor. The SRW harvest is advancing northward in the eastern Midwest and the HRW harvest is in full swing in Kansas, the No 1 HRW producing state.
Cash basis bids for soft red winter wheat were steady to firm in the Midwest and Chicago elevators and processors raised the basis from 3 cents to 10 cents per bushel, despite the expanding SRW harvest in the Midwest.
Rolling out of the July contract is continuing ahead of the June 30 first notice day for deliveries on that contract.
Registrations with the CBOT late Wednesday stood at 2,200 lots, up from 2,100 lots late Tuesday.