Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed sharply higher on Tuesday, rallying from five-week lows on a mix of commercial and speculative buying, traders said. September rice closed up 14 cents at $9.25 per hundredweight, while November closed up 15 at $9.54. Man Financial was the day's featured buyer.
"They were a strong bidder in November, making it tough to break the market," one trader said. Rice was also able to buck the trend of lower prices that swept most of the CBOT grains floor on Tuesday, a factor that attracted some speculative buying. Buy-stops were hit in November above $9.50 and in September around $9.20. Rice futures traded lower briefly on sell-stops in the opening minutes, which sent front-month September to a session low of $9.10. Fimat USA and Man were noted early sellers, traders said.
But the market found technical support at the lows and was able to rebound. Volume was estimated by the exchange at 1,067 futures and 152 options. Traders noted strong volume in the September contract in daytime electronic trade.
The US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report had little impact on futures. The USDA late Monday said the US rice crop was 5 percent harvested, up from 3 percent a year ago but just behind the five-year average of 6 percent.
The harvest was 28 percent complete in Texas and 22 percent compete in Louisiana. Condition ratings were stable, with 58 percent of the crop rated good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week.
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