CBOT wheat soars 6 pct, limit-up on Australia woes: CHICAGO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade roared to fresh 10-year highs on Wednesday, with benchmark December up its 30-cent trading limit after an Australian Wheat Board spokesman said AWB was halting exports from Australia's east coast, traders said. That news, and more forecasts for cuts in Australia's wheat output due to drought, sparked speculative buying by commodity funds, with some commercial buying noted as well. CBOT December wheat has climbed 67 cents, or 14 percent, for the week, dragging corn and soybeans higher despite seasonal pressure from the U.S. harvest. "Wheat is still in the lead. Wheat is carrying the whole floor," one CBOT trader said. CBOT December wheat closed up the 30-cent limit at $5.31 per bushel, above the previous contract high of $5.24 and the highest spot wheat price in 10 years. Late in the session, December traded synthetically at $5.45 based on moves in wheat options, traders said. There were at least 3,000 unfilled buy orders in December at the close. March wheat ended limit-up at $5.44-1/2, with May up 29-1/2 cents at $5.28-1/2. But back months settled down 4 to 13-1/2 cents as bull-spreading continued. The inverted Dec/July spread closed with December at an 87-cent premium. A week ago, December closed at a 12-cent discount to July. Traders noted some signs of commercial buying on the way up, a signal that the wheat market would remain on the boil as global wheat supplies shrink. Tenco Inc. bought 1,000 December, they said. Funds bought about 6,000 contracts on the day. Volume was heavy, estimated by the CBOT Wednesday at 103,755 wheat futures and 16,790 options. The exchange reported Tuesday's official volume at 170,648 futures, the fourth-largest total on record. Traders and analysts said volatile dealings were likely to continue in wheat futures, with occasional abrupt setbacks on profit-taking and positioning. Australia, a key global wheat producer and exporter, continues to struggle with a drought that has increasingly trimmed wheat production prospects. AWB Ltd. , Australia's main wheat exporter, said it was suspending all exports from the country's east coast due to poor yields, and reviewing its export requirements. "We are stopping exports out of the east coast to keep as much grain on the east coast as possible due to the drought," AWB spokesman Peter McBride said. "Obviously, we want to satisfy Japan and Korea because they are our long-term customers," he said. "Discretionary sales are off the books and we obviously won't go for as many tenders because we won't have the product." Separately, Australian Crop Forecasters cut its forecast of the 2006/07 Australian wheat crop to 11.5 million tonnes, and warned that the unseasonal dry weather could lead to further downgrades. In another reminder of tight world wheat supplies, Ukraine has halted all grain exports as authorities withhold licenses, industry sources in Kiev and Moscow said on Wednesday. Traders were awaiting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply/demand reports on Thursday. An average of analysts' estimates pegged 2006/07 U.S. wheat ending stocks at 435 million bushels, above USDA's September estimate for 429 million. The USDA said late Tuesday the U.S. winter wheat crop was 69 percent planted, near the five-year average of 70 percent. The crop was 37 percent emerged, lagging the five-year average of 41 percent. The CBOT said it would raise the initial margin to trade wheat from $1,350 per contract to $1,688, effective with the close of business on Wednesday. The December contract remains well above all key moving averages and the nine-day relative strength index was well in overbought territory at 90.
