Wheat rises on technical buying after six-month low

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CHICAGO — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures bounced off technical buys on Friday after approaching a six-month low hit a day earlier, though the market remained capped by sluggish U.S. exports and the increase in Black Sea shipments, analysts said.

Corn futures also strengthened, while soybeans fell slightly as rain forecasts in the U.S. Midwest eased worries about an unfavorable drought, traders said. Next week, traders will watch for reports of an annual tour in which scouts will take harvesting measurements in hundreds of corn and soybean fields in major U.S. farming states.

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Much of the Corn Belt is dry, but showers are spreading across the upper Midwest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a daily weather report. Any rain is beneficial for immature crops, including late-planted soybeans or corn, according to the report.

« Corn prices firmed on harvest issues, while soybeans fell on trade as traders believed oilseeds could handle this month’s weather better than corn, » Arlan said. Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX.

The most active CBOT wheat contract was down 22 cents, or 2.9%, at $7.71 a bushel. Corn finished 7-1/2 cents, or 1.2%, up $6.23-1/4 a bushel. Soybeans fell 1-1/4 cents, or 0.09%, to close at $14.04 a bushel.

Grain is being loaded onto 10 additional freighters at Ukrainian Black Sea ports and prepared for shipment under a food export deal brokered last month, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said. .

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Ukraine’s increased exports are helping to lower world wheat prices, according to a report by Hightower.

Still, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said much remains to be done to ensure full global access to Ukrainian food products and Russian food and fertilizers.

“Overall, the supply outlook remains positive, although still fraught with considerable uncertainty, which argues against any sharp decline in wheat prices,” Commerzbank said. (Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)