Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower on Thursday, following weakness in corn and soybeans in lackluster trade, brokers said. CBOT March soft red winter wheat settled down 1/4 cent at $5.16-1/2 a bushel, but pared losses toward the close as traders squared positions at the end of the month.

K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended down 3-1/4 cents at $4.99 a bushel and MGEX March spring wheat fell 1-1/2 cents to $5.70. A rebound in the dollar index added pressure. A firmer greenback tends to make US grains less attractive on the world market.

Market underpinned by signs of tightening Russian wheat supplies. The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US wheat in the week to Dec. 20 at 602,400 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), just above trade expectations for 200,000 to 600,000 tonnes. The export sales release was the USDA's first since a month-long partial government shutdown suspended the reports.

Copyright Reuters, 2019