CBOT wheat ends stronger as US harvest pressure eases

CHICAGO, July 18 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures jumped on Friday as U.S. farmers moved closer toward finishing the nation's winter wheat harvest.

• Spillover support from gains in CBOT corn and soy helped support wheat, traders said.

• U.S. wheat markets are no longer facing such heavy pressure from winter wheat harvesting because it is winding down in key states, analysts said.

• In the U.S. Plains, the hard red winter wheat harvest was largely complete, and selling by farmers was slow, merchants said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture is slated to issue a weekly update on harvest progress in a report on Monday.

• French farmers had harvested 71% of the soft wheat crop by July 14, with field work well ahead of the usual pace, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed.

• Traders said they continued to monitor low arrivals of new-crop wheat at ports in Russia, the world's biggest wheat exporter. Slow farmer selling has hindered export business there, especially for high-protein wheat, they said.

• CBOT September soft red winter wheat WU25 closed up 12-3/4 cents at $5.46-1/4 per bushel after falling on Thursday to the lowest price since May 14. The contract ended up 0.2% for the week.

• K.C. September hard red winter wheat KWU25 ended 11-1/2 cents higher at $5.29 a bushel.

• Minneapolis September spring wheat MWEU25 was last up 1/2 cent at $5.95-1/2 a bushel. The contract earlier matched a May 19 low it reached on Thursday.