May wheat opened 7 1/2 cents higher on the session at 1040 1/2 and established an early range of 1016 3/4 to 1048 3/4. Egypt's GASC bought a total of 180,000 tonnes of US soft wheat today and this brought calls for a higher open. The trade had been expecting two tenders for a variety of classes and origins. The market did open higher, as expected, but sold off early and remained lower into mid session. Weekly export sales for wheat came in at 562,800 tonnes which was in line with trade expectations. Old crop sales reached 379,900 tonnes as compared with 68,900 tonnes necessary each week to reach the USDA projection. Cumulative sales have already reached 97.9% of the USDA forecast for the season as compared with 89.4% as the 5-year average sold for this time of the year. Nigeria (126,500) and Yemen (82,300 tonnes) were the largest buyers. For the second week in a row, sales of soft red Chicago wheat were higher than hard red KC at 121,700 and 115,500 tonnes respectively. New crop sales were also higher for Chicago wheat than for KC wheat and this may explain why Chicago has gained on KC in recent weeks despite the tighter stocks and somewhat less favorable new crop outlook for hard red KC wheat.