Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed higher Wednesday on technical buying and traders exiting long K.C./short CBOT inter-market wheat spreads, brokers said. CBOT July soft red winter wheat settled up 10-1/2 cents at $4.88-1/4 per bushel but stayed inside of Tuesday's trading range.

K.C. July hard red winter wheat ended up 5-3/4 cents at $4.88-3/4 a bushel while MGEX July spring wheat rose 3-1/4 cents at $5.52-3/4.

The July K.C./CBOT wheat spread settled with the K.C. contract at a 1/2-cent premium to Chicago wheat, down from a premium of 5-1/4 cents a day earlier and 22-1/2 cents a week ago.

Ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Thursday, traders expected the government to report US wheat sales at 250,000 to 500,000 tonnes. Forecasts called for rains in the southern US Plains on Wednesday and Sunday likely stalling wheat harvest progress.

Copyright Reuters, 2018