Wheat futures fall off one-month high as dollar edges up

Wheat futures fell nearly one percent away from December 4 highs for the third straight session, as the dollar index gained ground following a basket of data from the US, the world's second largest wheat exporter. 

As of 08:58 GMT, wheat futures due on March 15 rose 0.75% to $4.3075 from the opening of $4.3400, while the dollar index rose 0.13% to 91.97. 

Earlier US data showed the economy added 148 thousand new jobs in December, missing expectations of 191K, and sharply down from November's 252K reading, revised from 228K. 

The US unemployment rate steadied at 4.1% in December in line with expectations, hanging at the lowest rate since December 200. 

US average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in December in line with expectations, up from November's 0.1% rise, revised from 0.2%. 

The US Services PMI slowed down to 55.9 in December from 57.4 in November, missing expectations of 57.6. 

The productivity and business activity gauge in the same survey dipped to 57.3 from 61.3, while new orders fell to 54.3 from 58.7. Employment widened to 56.3 from 55.3, while inventories slowed down to 53.5 from 54.5. 

The US Department of Agriculture reported in its last monthly report that wheat inventories could reach 960 million bushels, up from 935 million in previous forecasts, while analysts put them at 938 million bushels.