CHICAGO, Nov 21 (Bloomberg): Wheat fell for a third straight day as demand for US grain slid, eroded by rising global supplies.

From June 1 to November 12, overseas buyers committed to purchase 14.3 million metric tonnes of US wheat, 29 per cent less than a year earlier, Department of Agriculture data show. The dollar gained as much as 0.8 per cent against a basket of six major currencies, making US exports less appealing.

"If the dollar is stronger, I don't think wheat can hang in higher," said Darrell Holaday, the president of Advanced Market Concepts in Manhattan, Kansas. Investors who buy and sell based on the dollar's value pushed down prices, he said.

Wheat futures for March delivery fell 3.25 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $5.8075 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract dropped 2.1 per cent in the previous two days, paring the third-straight weekly gain to 3.8 per cent.

Prices likely will be "subdued" in the next six months because of ample global supplies and slack demand for US wheat, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia said Friday. Futures may fall below $5 in early 2010, the bank said.

Wheat is the fourth-biggest US crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, behind corn, soybeans and hay, USDA data show.