Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed near unchanged on Friday in a profit-taking setback from one-month highs posted earlier in the day and as ample grain supplies weighed on prices, traders said. CBOT December soft red winter wheat settled down 1/4 cent at $4.83-1/2 per bushel after peaking at $4.91, the contract's highest level since Aug. 12. The contract hit chart resistance at its 50-day moving average.

December wheat ended the week up 4.3%, the contract's steepest weekly gain in three months. CBOT September wheat futures expired on Friday at $4.85-3/4 a bushel. K.C. December hard red winter wheat ended down 3-3/4 cents at $3.99-3/4 a bushel and MGEX December spring what shed 1-3/4 cents to settle at $5.05-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat prices received an early lift from a rising soybean market, which climbed on easing trade tensions between the United States and China and the resumption of soybean purchases by Chinese importers. Burdensome wheat supplies weighed on prices. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday left its forecast of US 2019/20 wheat ending stocks unchanged but raised its forecasts of global wheat ending stocks for both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 marketing years by more than most analysts expected.

Copyright Reuters, 2019