Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures retreated on Thursday as traders pocketed profits from a recent run to one-month peaks and squared positions ahead of upcoming US Department of Agriculture stocks and acreage reports, traders said. CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled 5 cents lower at $4.64-1/2 per bushel. The contract fell below its low for the week, which accelerated selling, but held chart support at its 20-day moving average.
K.C. May hard red winter wheat ended down 5-3/4 cents at $4.38-3/4 a bushel, while MGEX May spring wheat fell 7-3/4 cents to $5.60. A firmer US dollar weighed on wheat as it makes US shipments more expensive for those holding other currencies.
The US Agriculture Department is due to release its prospective plantings report and its quarterly stocks estimates on Friday. The USDA said on Thursday morning that export sales of wheat last week totaled 511,100 tonnes, in line with market forecasts that ranged from 300,000 tonnes to 650,000 tonnes. In addition, the USDA confirmed private sales of 150,000 tonnes of HRW wheat to Iraq and 120,000 tonnes of SRW wheat to Egypt. The sale to Egypt had been announced by the buyer on Wednesday.