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Kansas City Board of Trade hard red winter wheat futures settled lower on Wednesday in an extension of Tuesday's setback, with spreading the feature of the day, traders said. The market flirted with contract lows before closing 3-3/4 to 5-1/2 cents lower, with the March down 5-1/4 cents at $3.25-1/4 per bushel and May down 5-1/4 cents at $3.15-3/4. March ranged from $3.23-1/2 to $3.29-1/2 on the day, while May wheat ranged from $3.15-1/2 to $3.19.

Attention was focused on the spread between the expiring March contract and May wheat, traders said.

Man Financial did 1,300 of the March/May spread from 8 to 11 cents, and Refco, Prudential, and Wolcott Lincoln each did 300 the same way.

In the May/March, Fimat did 700 from 7-1/4 to 10-3/4 cents, while Cargill Investor Services did 500, Prudential did 400, and UBS did 200. And Man Financial did 500 of the March/July spread from 18 to 19 cents, floor sources said.

In flat price trade, ADM sold 700 March, Cargill Investor Services bought 1,000 March and sold 300 March, Fimat USA bought 500 March and 400 May and sold 250 March and 500 May, Man Financial sold 700 March, and Prudential sold 600 July, pit sources said.

There was little significant market news out Wednesday, though on a bearish note, evidence of ample world wheat supplies continued to mount.

A senior farm ministry official in Romania said the country expects to reap 8 million tonnes of wheat this year, thanks to ideal growing conditions, after a bumper harvest of 7.7 million tonnes in 2004.

Meanwhile, fresh export business remained lackluster. Traders said South Korean flour millers jointly issued tenders to buy 24,000 tonnes of US No 1 wheat.

The nine-day relative strength index for March wheat stood at 52 ahead of the opening, nearly midway between the 30 benchmark for oversold conditions and the 70 benchmark considered indicative of overbought conditions.

Wheat futures were unchanged with no volume in overnight action.

Copyright Reuters, 2005


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