Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower on Thursday as some late buying moderated but did not reverse losses made on disappointing weekly export sales and Egypt's preference for Argentine wheat in an overnight tender, traders said.
Wheat futures were off 3/4 to 3 cents per bushel, with December down 1-3/4 at 3.11-3/4 per bushel. Egypt bought 355,000 tonnes of Argentine wheat and 60,000 tonnes of US soft white wheat in its snap tender overnight.
The US Department of Agriculture said on Thursday that last week's US wheat export sales were 318,100 tonnes, below trade estimates for 400,000-600,000 tonnes. Traders said speculative selling in futures continued on Thursday after on Wednesday's losses. Local traders were late buyers, covering short positions as the market retraced some of its losses. Rand Financial bought 200 December late, after selling 300 in the session, traders said.
Term Commodities sold 400 December, DT Trading sold 500 December, and O'Connor & Co bought 600 December, they said. Other overnight export business was routine with South Korea buying a total of 41,400 tonnes of US wheat and Japan purchasing 151,000 tonnes of wheat soured from the United States, Canada and Australia at a weekly tender.
Traders were hoping for additional export business as the US dollar continues to weaken. Pakistan said it was likely to finalise plans to buy about 500,000 tonnes within a week, and US exporters were hoping to get a slice of that business.
Midwest cashes basis bids for SRW wheat was steady on Thursday. The CBOT estimated wheat futures volume at 19,614 lots, compared with Wednesday's volume of 21,509 lots. Wheat options trade was estimated at 4,336 contracts.