Soft red winter wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were mixed at midsession on Friday, as light local buying offset profit-taking from the 2 percent rise in prices on Thursday, traders said.
Analysts said Thursday's advances were due mostly to end-of-the-month positioning by commodity funds rather than bullish fundamentals for wheat.
Trade was thin. As of 11:17 am CST (1705 GMT), December wheat was up 1 cent at $5.03 per bushel. Most-active March up 1-1/2 at $5.23 and back months were up 1/2 cent to down 2-1/2 cents. Man Financial and Fimat USA each sold 200 March contracts, traders said.
Heavy deliveries totalling 1,974 lots weighed on spot December, underscoring weak cash markets for soft red winter wheat. A Banc of America customer issued 1,500 lots, and there were scattered stoppers. Overnight export news was routine, offering little support for the futures market. Taiwan's Flour Mills Association sealed a deal to buy a total of 44,100 tonnes of US wheat.
Kansas City Board of Trade December wheat was down 4-1/4 cents at $5.29-3/4 and Minneapolis Grain Exchange December spring wheat was up 3-3/4 at $5.13. Deliveries on KCBT December remained light, at 14 contracts. In Minneapolis, there were 125 redeliveries of December spring wheat, all stopped by the Country Hedging house account.