French new crop wheat for November hit a fresh contract high at 189.25 euros a tonne on Thursday, up 4.50 euros after a strong rise in Chicago markets on Wednesday, traders said. London feed wheat prices also opened strongly with November up 1.75 pounds a tonne at 120.50 pounds, having peaked at a new contract high of 120.90 pounds.
Chicago wheat futures soared nearly 4 percent on Wednesday on optimism about US export demand with September closing up 22-1/4 cents at $6.23-1/2 a bushel. Electronic prices were up 6-3/4 cents at $6.30-1/4. Morocco on Thursday confirmed the purchase of 243,000 tonnes of US wheat.
Traders also cited a report from French analyst Strategies Grains, cutting its estimate of European Union grain output to 270.7 million tonnes, down from last month's 276.5 million.