SYDNEY, Aug 6 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures rose more than one percent on Wednesday to hit a near three week high as concerns over crops in Europe and Ukraine pushed prices up for the sixth consecutive session, the longest rally in three months.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Chicago Board Of Trade September wheat rose 1.22 percent to $5.59-1/4 a bushel, just shy of the session high of $5.59-1/2 a bushel, the highest since July 17. Wheat closed up 1.5 percent on Wednesday.
* September wheat last rose for six consecutive sessions on April 30.
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* Wheat is up 7.5 percent over the last six days, the biggest six-day gain since March.
* November soybeans rose 0.12 percent to $10.67 a bushel, having slid 1.3 percent on Tuesday.
* December corn rose 0.1 percent to $3.67-1/2 a bushel, having closed down 0.5 percent in the previous session.
* Rain damage is also downgrading the quality of Ukraine’s wheat harvest. An official with Ukraine’s ProAgro consultancy said the share of feed wheat could rise to around 35 percent of the total harvest this year, from 25 to 30 percent last year.
* Repeated rain that has spoiled part of the French wheat crop is also threatening to cause quality problems in Germany and Poland, increasing the likelihood the European Union will have more feed wheat and less milling crop to sell this season.
* Informa Economics forecast 2014 U.S. all-wheat production at 1.986 billion bushels, above its July outlook for 1.960 billion. Informa also raised its forecast of Russian’s 2014/15 wheat crop to 56.0 million tonnes, up 3.5 million from its previous figure.
* U.S. soybeans and corn are under pressure amid forecasts for favorable rains, bolstering expectations of huge harvests.
* The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday afternoon that the soybean crop was rated 71 percent good to excellent, unchanged from a week ago and one percentage point above the average of analysts’ forecasts.
* INTL FCStone projected the U.S. 2014 soybean harvest at 3.865 billion bushels, with an average yield of 46.0 bushels per acre, and Farm Futures Magazine estimated the crop at 3.857 billion bushels, with an average yield of 46.07 bushels per acre. Both estimates are above USDA’s current forecasts.
* Informa Economics’ soybean forecast fell below the USDA’s but the closely watched firm’s outlook for 3.7 billion bushels would still be a record crop if realized.
MARKET NEWS
* The U.S. dollar extended a broad-based rally on Tuesday after stronger-than-expected economic data, including an 8-1/2-year high in the pace of services sector growth and a bigger-than-expected increase in factory orders.
* Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, with Brent crude falling to a nine-month low as ample supplies in Europe and North America outweighed fears that violence in the Middle East and North Africa could disrupt production.
* U.S. stocks ended down on Tuesday, nose-diving in the afternoon as concerns mounted over escalating tensions in Ukraine.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany
Industrial orders
June
0800 Italy
Industrial output
June
0900 Italy
Preliminary GDP
Q2
1230 U.S.
International trade
June
Grains prices at 0012 GMT Contract
Last
Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat
559.25
6.75 +1.22%
+2.80%
548.37 64 CBOT corn
367.50
0.25 +0.07%
-0.47%
390.34 29 CBOT soy
1067.00
1.25 +0.12%
-1.16%
1108.63 47 CBOT rice
$12.85
$0.00 +0.00%
-1.08%
$13.43 28 WTI crude
$97.63
$0.25 +0.26%
-0.67%
$102.24 21 Currencies
Euro/dlr
$1.337 $0.000 -0.04%
-0.38% USD/AUD
0.930
0.000 -0.02%
-0.34% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Michael Perry)
