Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade inched higher on Friday to post a slight weekly gain, lifted by fund short-covering along with a bounce in crude oil and world equity markets, traders said. K.C. hard red winter and MGEX spring wheat drifted lower, losing ground to CBOT wheat on inter-market spreads.
Commodity funds hold a large net short position in CBOT and K.C. wheat, leaving the markets open to short-covering rallies.
But market-moving news was scarce and fundamentals remain bearish, given burdensome global wheat supplies and a lack of significant winterkill threats in the Northern Hemisphere.
USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the week ended January 14 at 362,000 tonnes, in line with trade expectations for 200,000 to 400,000 tonnes.
Egypt has enough strategic wheat reserves to last until May 11, Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi said.
For the week, CBOT March wheat rose 1-3/4 cents per bushel or 0.4 percent, while K.C. March wheat fell 3-1/4 cents and MGEX March spring wheat fell 1/4 cent.