SYDNEY, June 19 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures rose for a third consecutive session on Thursday, extending gains over the period to more than 1 percent, as disappointing yield findings from a widely watched U.S. crop tour supported prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Chicago Board Of Trade front-month wheat rose 0.2 percent to $5.88 a bushel, having closed up 0.9 percent on Wednesday. However, wheat is still not far off a more than four-month low touched on Tuesday.
* Spot corn rose 0.2 percent to $4.42-1/4 a bushel, having gained 0.6 percent in the previous session.
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* Front-month soybeans little changed at $14.08-1/2 a bushel, having firmed 0.8 percent on Wednesday.
* Wheat was supported as disappointing harvest yields in key hard red winter wheat-growing areas of the U.S. Plains were shown by a report by the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.
* U.S. Agriculture Department reported that exporters had sold 140,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery in the 2013/14 crop year, further depleting tight domestic supplies.
* Expectations of large U.S. harvests of both corn and soybeans have weighed on prices this week after the USDA’s crop conditions report on Monday showed both crops were thriving across the U.S. Midwest during their early development stages.
* The Brazilian government plans to reduce to zero the 10 percent import tariff applied to non-Mercosur wheat for a quota of up to 1 million tonnes through Aug. 15, a source in the government with knowledge of the plan said on Wednesday.
MARKET NEWS
* The U.S. dollar wallowed at its lowest in nearly two weeks against a basket of major currencies early on Thursday, having beat a hasty retreat after the Federal Reserve signalled that interest rates will stay low for a while yet.
* Brent crude rose to a nine-month high on Wednesday as investors worried about exports from Iraq, while U.S. crude dipped after government numbers showed domestic crude inventories fell much less than an industry group had reported.
* U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 ending at a record after the Federal Reserve hinted at a slightly faster pace of interest-rate increases starting next year but suggested rates in the long run would be lower than it had indicated previously.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
1230 U.S.
Weekly jobless claims
1400 U.S.
Leading index
May
1400 U.S.
Philly Fed business index
June
Grains prices at 0038 GMT Contract
Last
Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat
588.00
1.00 +0.17%
+1.07%
638.97 26 CBOT corn
442.25
0.75 +0.17%
+0.80%
467.57 34 CBOT soy
1408.50
-0.50 -0.04%
+0.73%
1467.53 30 CBOT rice
$14.79
$0.00 +0.00%
+0.82%
$14.90 64 WTI crude
$106.20
$0.23 +0.22%
-0.15%
$103.46 70 Currencies
Euro/dlr
$1.359 -$0.001 -0.05%
+0.32% USD/AUD
0.940 -0.001 -0.06%
+0.71% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Richard Pullin)
