Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended lower on Monday after sell-stops were hit late after a lacklustre session, traders said.
Prices were range-bound most of Monday amid little fresh wheat news, but commodity funds became aggressive sellers late. The market failed to see many follow-through buying after breaking through the 50-day moving average in December at $3.20.
Wheat was due for a corrective bounce, with December climbing 16 cents last week on a technical bounce. CBOT wheat futures ended 3 to 5 cents per bushel lower, with December down 4-1/2 cents at $3.14-3/4.
Funds sold about 4,000 contracts, traders said. RJ O'Brien was among the featured players, selling 700 December. Also bearish was disappointing weekly export inspections.
The US Department of Agriculture said on Monday that 19.874 million bushels of wheat were inspected for export last week, below trade estimates for 21.0 million to 28.0 million.
The market opened lower on an active US winter wheat seeding pace and weakness in corn and soyabeans.
Some underlying support stemmed from concerns that grain inspectors walked off the job on late on Friday at Canada's two busiest ports, Vancouver and Thunder Bay, despite a six-week suspension in a Canadian government workers strike.
So far, both actions have had only a very minor effect on grain movement.