Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures fell on Friday on technical selling and spillover weakness from corn and soybeans, traders said. CBOT December wheat settled down 6-3/4 cents at $4.26 per bushel. Several deferred contracts posted life-of-contract lows. K.C. December hard red winter wheat ended down 6-1/2 cents at $4.22-3/4 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat fell 4-1/2 cents at $6.11-1/4.
Fund-driven long liquidation may have added pressure, traders said, noting that open interest in CBOT wheat futures jumped by nearly 14,000 contracts on Thursday, reaching a six-month high of 499,230 contracts. Futures remain anchored by plentiful global wheat supplies, strong competition for export business and improved planting weather this week in the US Plains and Midwest.