Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade fell early on Thursday on fund selling tied to long liquidation amid global financial turmoil, traders said.
"The market action on Tuesday with Asian financials melting down was a heads up down here. Chinese securities markets are still a concern to traders," a trader said.
Wheat futures fell sharply on Tuesday following an overnight 9 percent plunge in China's main stock market and wheat took another nosedive on Thursday after another fall in Asian financials overnight. The US stock market fell sharply early on Thursday but showed signs of resiliency by midday. At 10:29 am CST (1629 GMT), CBOT wheat was down 9-1/2 to 15-1/2 cents per bushel, with March down 15-1/2 at $4.59 per bushel.
Wheat futures were finding no support from the export sector with sales of US wheat quiet overnight and the US government's updated weekly export numbers were benign.
USDA early Thursday said 321,700 tonnes of wheat were sold for export last week, within estimates for 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes. Outlooks for a strong rebound in global wheat output this year continue to act as an anchor on the market and deliveries of wheat on the March contract on Thursday were heavy at 3,299 lots.
Technical traders saw the March contract break key support at its 200 day moving average of $4.62, touching off sell-stops.