Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed higher on Friday on strong weekly US rice export sales and following a near limit-up close in neighbouring wheat futures, brokers said.
"There was early speculative buying interest," one CBOT rice trader said. "Commercials were sellers between the $8.85 and $8.90 level in the March contract, and there was some fund liquidation, but the market was spurred on by the strength in wheat futures."
CBOT rice futures closed up 9 to 16 cents per hundredweight, with January up 16 cents at $8.70 and March up 15-1/2 cents at $8.88-1/2 per cwt.
Neighbouring CBOT wheat futures ended up 15 to 28-3/4 cents per bushel on hopes that China might buy US wheat and heavy speculative buying, a hard-to-ignore factor for rice brokers, traders said.
Supportive US rice export sales news also underpinned CBOT rice, one broker said.
The US Department of Agriculture reported on Friday that weekly US rice export sales for the week ended December 25 totalled 92,600 tonnes. The sales were 93 percent above the previous week and 6 percent above the prior four-week average.
The major buyers were Japan (74,700 tonnes) and Mexico (13,800 MT).
And Friday's three-year low in the dollar vs. the yen was also supportive, as it made US rice prices more competitive vs. foreign suppliers, traders said.
There were 216 deliveries posted against CBOT January rice on Friday, with a customer of Refco Inc stopping 150 lots.
CBOT rough rice futures volume on Friday was estimated at 870 futures, compared with 1,364 lots on Wednesday. Options trade totalled 35 contracts.
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