Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed slightly higher on Wednesday, with rolling of nearby January contracts featured during the thinly traded, holiday-shortened session, brokers said.
CBOT agricultural trading will be closed on Thursday in observance of New Year's Day, but CBOT's overnight electronic trading will resume on Thursday night. Trading hours will return to normal on Friday.
CBOT rice futures closed up 4 cents per hundredweight to unchanged, with January up 4 cents at $8.54 and March up 3-1/2 cents at $8.73 per cwt.
"Rolling of January into March was featured," one CBOT rice trader said. "The spread traded between 19 cents and 20 cents per cwt."
Light local buying was also noted, while commercial hedge selling was seen above the $8.70 level in March, he said.
There were 364 deliveries posted against January rice on Wednesday's first notice day, less than CBOT floor traders had expected. Man Financial stopped 185 lots. Traders also noted that the US Department of Agriculture had reported on Tuesday that the weekly world market price for long grain rice was $4.10 per cwt, steady with the previous week's price.