Wheat futures rise as dollar retreats

Wheat futures rose in American trade as the dollar index bounded off from the highest since July 26, following an array of data from the US, the world's largest wheat exporter. 

As of 08:59 GMT, wheat futures due on December 15 rose 0.62% to $4.4350 from the opening of $4.4075, while the dollar index shed 0.16% to 93.81 from the opening of 93.96. 

Earlier, the US Department of Agriculture reported wheat sales for the fourth week of the new marketing year starting last month at 482.3 thousand metric tonnes, falling within forecasts of 300 to 500 thousand tonnes, with Philippine the top buyer at 87.8 thousand, followed by China and Japan at about 68.1 thousand, then Taiwan at 33.3 thousand, and UAE at 30.0 thousand.  

The USDA grain harvest report for the week ending September 29 showed forecasts for winter harvest fell to 1.27 billion bushels for the 2017 marketing year, down 24% from the 2016 rate at 1.67 billion.

Otherwise, earlier US labor data showed the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, the lowest since March 2001 and down from August's 4.4%, while average hourly earnings accelerated to 0.5% from 0.2%, revised from 0.1% in August and besting expectations of 0.3%. 

The number of non-farm payrolls in the economy fell 33 thousand for the first time since November 2010, compared to the addition of 169K new jobs in August, revised higher from 156K, while analysts expected 82K new jobs. 

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley presented a speech titled "The Monetary Policy Outlook and the Importance of Higher Education for Economic Mobility" at the Council for Economic Education, in New York, where he expressed his surprise at the long period inflation has steadied below the targeted 2%, adding that the Fed will go on with its gradual tightening of policy. 

Dudley forecast increase in spending levels and investments in the next period, while expecting inflation to edge up abruptly in the medium term. 

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will participated in a panel discussion at the Investing in America's Workforce Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve System, in Austin, where he pointed to her desire to see more indicators of inflationary pressures, adding that the drop in the US payroll was merely transitory due to recent hurricanes, and expecting to see labor improvements later on.