US wheat futures closed mostly higher on Wednesday due to short-covering but the spring wheat market fell on seasonal harvest pressure, traders said. A dust storm in Australia that threatened portions of the crop there also added support to the wheat market. Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat for December delivery settled 4-1/4 cents higher at $4.60 a bushel.
Funds bought 3,000 lots. Bullish moves in the options pit, including call buying, also supported wheat prices. Traders said New Edge bought 1,600 calls to purchase December wheat at $5 a bushel. At the Kansas City Board of Trade, December hard red winter wheat ended up 1-1/4 cents at $4.69-1/2 a bushel.
Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat for December delivery settled 1-1/4 cents lower at $4.89-1/2 a bushel. Ongoing harvest of a large crop of spring wheat has pressured spring wheat prices despite reports of low-protein content in this year's crop.
India will review the price at which it plans to buy wheat from domestic farmers in October. Australia's AWB Ltd talking to a major global commodities firm to team up on selling grains. Brazil's government is considering raising the import tariff on wheat from outside the Mercosur trade bloc to 35 percent from 10 percent.
Heavy rains throughout Argentina last week boosted the outlook for the 2009/10 wheat crop but frost could still hurt the output - Buenos Aires Grain Exchange. Analysts expecting US Agriculture Department's weekly report on Thursday morning to show wheat export sales in range from 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes.