Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Monday with nearby September firm amid supportive export news, traders said.
However, the wheat market continued to struggle amid increasing global wheat production this year. Traders said news Pakistan bought milling wheat and trade talk that a large portion of it was from the United States helped underpin the wheat market as did a large wheat export inspections number.
CBOT wheat closed 2 cents higher to 3/4 lower, with September up 1/4 at $3.16. A government official in Karachi said on Monday that Pakistan bought 484,700 tonnes of milling wheat, and US export trade sources said there was talk that 230,000 tonnes would come from the United States.
And after the close of trade on Monday, Egypt's GASC said it was tendering for 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of wheat from the US, France or Australia. Some additional strength came from waning seasonal harvest hedge selling pressure, traders said.
Also supportive was news USDA on Monday said US wheat inspected for export last week totalled over 26.5 million bushels, above estimates for 20.0 million to 22.0 million bushels.
Exports were quiet over the weekend and cash SRW basis values on Monday held steady to firm.
Cash dealers said producer selling was slowing down as the 2004 US winter wheat harvest wraps up. Technical traders were eyeing the nine-day relative strength index for September, which closed on Friday at 38, above the benchmark 30 that chartists view as an oversold market. On Friday's CFTC commitments of traders data showed large speculators retained their net short position in CBOT wheat futures for the week ended on Tuesday, August 3, but open interest rose for both longs and shorts.
For futures, funds were long 41,517 contracts, up 5,862 from the prior week, and short 58,670, up 4,798. Technical support in the September contract was at $3.12 per bushel and resistance was at $3.24.
Traders continued to voice concern over the quality of the US winter wheat crop, with vomitoxin cited in SRW wheat and sprouting in HRW wheat this season.