Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were quietly lower at midday on Thursday, sagging after a firm open on a lack of follow-through buying, traders said. Weak underlying fundamentals weighed on prices, including favourable crop conditions in the US Plains hard red winter wheat belt and lacklustre export demand.
The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US wheat last week at 486,900 tonnes, near the low end of a range of estimates for 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes. As of 11:55 am CDT (1655 GMT), CBoT May wheat was down 2-1/2 cents at $4.60-3/4 per bushel, staying inside of Wednesday's trading range. July wheat was down 2-1/2 at $4.73-1/2 and December was down 1 at $4.95.
The May contract was below all key moving averages, with first key resistance at the 200-day MA of $4.68-1/4. The contract's nine-day relative strength index stood at 35 after Wednesday's close, nearing the 0-to-30 range that technical traders view as an oversold signal.