SYDNEY, May 30 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures were little changed on Friday, hovering around a near three-month low, with the grain was set to end the month down more than 12 percent after improved weather eased concerns over the U.S. crop.
FUNDAMENTALS
* July wheat down 12.4 percent for the month, the contract’s biggest monthly slide. Wheat hit a low of $6.29-3/4 a bushel on Thursday, the lowest since March 4.
* Chicago Board Of Trade July corn down 9 percent for the month, the first fall in five months and the biggest slide for the contract since September 2011.
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* July soybeans have eased 0.6 percent during May, the first monthly slide in four months.
* Wheat has come under further pressure after crop-friendly rains over the weekend, while a weekly weather report early on Thursday showed drought conditions moderating.
* Showers were lingering in the Midwestern crop belt, while further precipitation forecast next week should benefit recently planted corn seeds, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note.
* U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday that private exporters had reported the sale of 110,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China for delivery in the 2014/15 marketing year, which starts on Sept. 1.
MARKET NEWS
* The U.S. dollar hovered at a two-month high against a basket of major currencies early in Asia on Thursday, having benefited from a shakeout of long positions in sterling and further weakness in the euro.
* U.S. crude prices rose on Thursday after government inventory data showed a sharp drawdown in gasoline that outweighed a build in overall crude stocks, while Brent edged up supported by the low Libyan output and the Ukraine crisis.
* The S&P 500 index climbed to its third record closing high in four sessions on Thursday as traders shrugged off data that showed the economy shrank in the first quarter and bet on improvement in the second quarter.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany Retail sales
April
0900 Italy
Consumer prices
May
1230 U.S.
Personal income
April
1345 U.S.
Chicago PMI
May
Grains prices at 0047 GMT Contract
Last
Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat
632.25
-0.25 -0.04%
-1.02%
690.23 14 CBOT corn
472.50
3.00 +0.64%
+0.00%
495.98 37 CBOT soy
1504.00
5.00 +0.33%
+0.42%
1484.39 54 CBOT rice
$15.01 -$0.02 -0.10%
-0.27%
$15.35 27 WTI crude
$103.40 -$0.18 -0.17%
+0.66%
$101.83 54 Currencies
Euro/dlr
$1.360 $0.000 -0.01%
+0.08% USD/AUD
0.931
0.000 +0.02%
+0.80% 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)
