July wheat 3 3/4 cents lower in overnight action. The dollar was higher overnight.

Wheat traded lower yesterday and again overnight in relatively narrow ranges. News is light, trade in futures has been relatively featureless and the tender calendar is much lighter than it has been in recent weeks. Traders say that wheat is responding to generally favorable crop weather and a weaker corn market. Serious harvest pressure is still a few weeks off, and this has brought trade in cash markets to a very low level, according to market sources. Export sales are due out tomorrow morning, and some traders are looking to that report for short term direction. Turkey expects its wheat crop to be down 2.5 million tonnes according to a government spokesman. Deliveries against the May contract today were just 15 contracts. Smaller crops in the Middle East have been offset by expectations for a bumper crop in Europe and Eastern Europe, the US, Australia and India. India wheat purchases from producers have already reached more than 19 million tonnes for the marketing year beginning in April, with 20 million as the target. RICE: The market finished sharply lower yesterday. Deliveries against the May contract today were just 3 contracts.

Moderate rains fell overnight in southeastern Missouri, central Illinois and in much of Indiana. Rain is expected today in eastern Illinois and southeastern Missouri and on into the eastern Midwest. Further rains are expected tomorrow in the southern Corn Belt, eastern Ohio and the southern Plains, with the southern Plains likely to get the heaviest amounts on a localized basis. Further rains are expected in the eastern Midwest again on Friday, with two days of generally dry weather across all growing areas on Saturday and Sunday. Iraq issued another tender for 50,000 tonnes of wheat this week. After their last such tender they ended up buying 450,000 tonnes.