Wheat slips as war jitters ease, harvest looms

Chicago wheat fell back on Friday as short covering fuelled by Israel’s war with Iran subsided and the onset of northern hemisphere harvesting kept a lid on prices. Corn and soybean futures edged higher. July wheat (WN25) on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.7% at $5.70 a bushel by 1152 GMT. The contract had surged 4.6% on Wednesday as the run-up to a U.S. holiday on Thursday encouraged investors to cover short positions amid uncertainty over U.S. participation in the Israel-Iran conflict and worries over crop weather headlines. Crude oil fell on Friday after the White House delayed a decision on U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. Traders also said worries about adverse weather in top wheat exporter Russia were tempered by estimates of large production, though there was still concern about the impact of heavy rain in the U.S. Plains on the winter wheat harvest getting under way. “We think that most of the rally will be given back over the next week due to harvest ...