December wheat opened 8 1/2 cents higher on the day at 597 and established an early range of 581 to 598 1/4. The wheat market opened higher and sold off to slightly lower levels into early mid session. Traders said that the higher open and higher trade overnight came on initial ideas that the financial sector rally from yesterday would continue into today. However, stock indexes showed mixed to higher results into the day session and crude oil slipped from sharply higher levels overnight to lower on the day. Traders indicated that this brought selling pressure to a number of markets and that wheat may have also suffered from liquidation by long wheat/short corn spreaders in the early going. Export inspections were 22.056 this week. The cumulative total stands at 48.0% of the projected total compared to a 5-year average of 37.9%. Inspections need to average 15.560 each week to reach the USDA projection. France released its latest 2008/09 grain production numbers. Soft wheat was pegged at 36.9 million tonnes, down 200,000 tonnes from last month's estimate. Weather in Australia is expected to be dry over the next several days. Traders at the Gulf indicate that basis levels have a firm tone in wheat due to the multiple tenders that are now in the works.