By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, March 26 (Reuters) – U.S. grain and soybean futures
reversed early gains to turn lower on Thursday on pressure from
a higher dollar, with wheat’s three-session decline of more than
6 percent the biggest such slide in nearly two years.
The dollar, which rose in a rebound from a three-week
low, makes goods priced in the greenback less attractive on
international markets. Fresh evidence of wheat’s competitive
disadvantage came in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly
export sales report showing the smallest wheat exports since
June.
“It really creates a negative atmosphere to sustain (grain)
rallies,” Water Street Solutions analyst Arlan Suderman said of
the dollar, which is hovering near a 12-year peak against a
basket of other currencies.
CBOT May wheat futures finished 19-3/4 cents lower at
$4.99-1/4 per bushel, a 10-day low. The contract has lost ground
each day since ‘gapping’ higher on the charts to a five-week
peak on Monday. Such chart gaps typically are filled and this
week’s plunge was the largest since April of 2013.
Rains in wheat growing regions in the southern U.S. Plains
and Ohio River Valley also weighed on prices. However, the
showers in the Plains missed parched areas of Kansas and
Oklahoma while precipitation has been so heavy in the Ohio River
Valley there could be risks of fungal diseases that damaged last
year’s soft red winter wheat crop, meteorologists said.
“The showers in the Plains look better on the radar than in
the rain gauge,” Suderman said, adding that the USDA was likely
to reduce wheat condition ratings in a report on Monday.
USDA next week also will release its annual prospective
plantings and quarterly stocks reports, which likely will show
U.S. farmers reducing corn sowings and in favor of better
earnings in soybeans, a Reuters poll showed.
CBOT May corn fell 4 cents to $3.91 per bushel as
investors locked in profits after the contract hit a roughly
five-week high earlier in the session.
Soybeans for May delivery were down 4-1/4 cents to $9.74-1/2
per bushel, losing ground for the third straight session amid
advancing record soy harvests in South America.
(Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and
Colin Packham in Sydney; Editing by Keith Weir and Tom Brown)