BLBG: Wheat Drops for a Second Day as Stronger Dollar Curbs Demand
By Luzi Ann Javier
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell for a second day in Chicago as a stronger dollar reduced the appeal of U.S. crops for importers and investors. Soybeans also retreated.
Wheat for May delivery slid 0.5 percent to $5.02 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 10:16 a.m. in London. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s strength, advanced as much as 0.8 percent as the euro slumped on concern about Greece’s ability to cut its budget deficit.
“Any recovery in the dollar could reduce foreign buying as U.S. wheat becomes more expensive in other currencies,” CWA Global Markets Pty said in a note today. Higher global wheat supplies are also damping prices, Peter McGuire, managing director at CWA in Sydney, said by phone.
Worldwide wheat output was forecast to exceed demand for a second year, helping to boost stockpiles to 195.9 million metric tons this year from 164 million tons a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Stockpiles of all grains worldwide, including wheat, corn and rice, will rise 3 percent this year to 523.1 million tons, the highest level in eight years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said last month.
Soybeans for May delivery fell 0.3 percent to $9.5975 a bushel, erasing a gain of as much as 0.3 percent. Corn for May delivery dropped 0.1 percent to $3.815 a bushel after climbing as much as 0.6 percent earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net