Rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade slipped on Friday, following this week's climb to a three-month top on technical buying, traders said.
November rice closed 8-1/2 cents per hundredweight lower at $7.26, but up 24-1/2 cents on the week. The deferred months-settled 6 cents lower. The front month was under added pressure late, hit by month-end positioning as commodity funds rolled their long positions, spreading January/November at 24 to 26 cents.
Unlike the other CBOT grain markets, the US Agriculture Department did not release any rice stocks figures on Friday. The US rice harvest was seen nearing completion after this week.
There were some expected slowdowns in the top rice state of Arkansas as combines moved slower to pick up any downed rice after this week's storms, a fallout from Hurricane Rita, traders said.
Estimated volume was heavy at 1,932 futures and 120 options. That compared to 665 contracts traded on Thursday.
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