Wheat falls, set for biggest weekly loss in 3 months
Category: Grains
(Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures fell on Friday, leaving the grain facing its biggest weekly loss in nearly three months as favorable weather forecasts eased fears over potential damage to U.S. crops.
FUNDAMENTALS
* May wheat down more than 3 percent for the week, the first fall in five weeks and the biggest slide in nearly three months.
* Chicago Board Of Trade May soybeans up more than 2.5 percent for the week, the biggest weekly gain in a month.
* May corn up 1.2 percent for the week, the second consecutive weekly gain.
* The wheat market is being weighed down by improved weather in the drought-hit U.S. Plains. There are some forecasts for showers in the Plains, which will provide relief to the developing winter wheat crop in those areas.
* Weekly U.S. export sales confirmed brisk demand for U.S. corn, with 960,600 tonnes sold for the current marketing year, within a range of trade estimates and down from 1.4 million the prior week.
* Export demand for U.S. soybeans was weak. Most overseas buyers had turned their attention to Brazil and Argentina due to cheaper prices from those countries.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture said weekly soybean export sales of old-crop U.S. supplies were 66,200 tonnes, near the low end of forecasts for zero to 200,000 tonnes.
* Private analytics firm Informa Economics trimmed its estimate of the 2013/14 Brazilian soybean crop to 86.75 million tonnes from its previous forecast of 88.6 million, trade sources said. It raised its outlook for the Argentine soy harvest by 500,000 tonnes to 54.5 million.
MARKET NEWS
* The euro traded at one-month lows against the dollar early on Friday, having suffered a bit of a setback after the European Central Bank notched up its dovish rhetoric following a widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
* Brent crude gained more than $1 on Thursday, widening its premium to U.S. crude, as doubts persisted that a lasting deal was imminent to reopen vital Libyan oil ports and as tension between Russia and Ukraine intensified.
* U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday, as investors turned cautious ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report, while a drop in biotech and momentum shares dragged the Nasdaq down nearly 1 percent.
