Wheat hogged the limelight again, putting in a second successive higher close in Chicago, and a marked one, in contrast to the declines in its peers.

Sure, the grain lost about half its maximum gains, which approached 7% at one stage, on a richer diet of fundamental fillips, and better views on technical matters too.

A report that Russia was preparing for imports of 5m tonnes of grain was perhaps the most dramatic of the updates. The country has not been a significant buyer of foreign grain since the 1990s, before it developed its agricultural muscle.

But it wasn't the only positive news (which is perhaps just as well, as the Russian government denied it.)

Egypt's purchase of 240,000 tonnes of wheat held something for investors on both sides of the Atlantic. Sure, Canada and French wheat won out, but US hard red winter was not far off the pace, at $285 a tonne. And the size of the order beat many expectations too.

'Huge sales' 

And any doubts over US export prospects were blown away by weekly export sales data which, for wheat, hit 1.4m tonnes, nearly twice the estimate of some analysts, and showing that buyers were still in town, even at current higher prices.

"Export sales this morning were huge," US Commodities said.

Rival broker Benson Quinn Commodities agreed with the conclusion, was less generous.

"Analysts must be extremely forgetful because, if they would have added last week's barrage of daily export sales reported by the US Department of Agriculture, they would have realised it would have exceeded their puny estimates for total weekly sales," Benson Quinn said.

Friday ahead 

September wheat closed up 3.9% at $6.81 � a bushel In Chicago.

In Paris, the November lot added3.5% to E212.75 a tonne, while London's November lot ended 3.2% higher at �151.25 a tonne, despite a stronger pound, which was lifted by strong retail sales data for July and slower growth in UK public borrowing.

Still, Thursday's success poses a question � whether it can hang on to the gains on Friday. David Sheppard, managing director at UK grain merchant Gleadell said he would "not be surprised" to see a soft close to the week, noting the close in Chicago well below intraday highs.

Friday, particularly the afternoon, has proved a bit of a downer of late, with investors proving reluctant to hold positions over the weekend in such a volatile market.

Soybean headwind 

As has happened often of late, soybeans moved in the opposite direction to wheat, a phenomenon attributed in part to crop spreads of buying the oilseed and selling wheat, or vice versa.

However, investors had some fundamental reasons for caution too, one being weather, which is turning more favourable, in terms of giving crops what they want.

"US weather turned slightly wetter overnight with more near term rainfall expected to benefit the drier eastern Corn Belt," Benson Quinn said.

China factor

Soybeans are also having to "battle through the crop tour findings of strongly higher pod counts than previously expected", the broker added.

Darrell Holaday at Country Futures noted "some concern that recently we have not seen any activity from China".

Furthermore, prices on China's Dalian exchange closed some 0.7% lower

Soybeans for September lost 1.8% to $10.16 � a bushel, with the new crop November lot down 1.8% at $10.12 � a bushel, as funds sold an estimated 4,000 contracts.

Out of favour 

They sold even more of corn, an estimated 7,000 lots, with again softer hopes for China, which many had considered on the verge of another dive into imports, easing with a decline in Dalian prices.

"[Chinese] officials indicate they have sufficient stocks," US Commodities said.

While news from the ProFarmer continues to paint lower yields than the USDA has portrayed, profit-taking, with prices around seven-month highs, was also cited by traders for overcoming news of solid weekly corn export sales too.

Chicago's September contract closed down 1.0% at $4.14 � a bushel.