Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures settled unchanged to slightly lower in the nearby May contract on Friday in consolidation trade after Thursday's break, brokers said.
"Trade was slow, but we held up in the face of the extreme liquidation in soybeans," one CBOT rice broker said. "We seem to have liquidated most of our weak longs yesterday."
CBOT rough rice settled down 5 cents per cwt to unchanged, with May down 5 cents at $10.50, well below last week's 6-1/2 year top of $11.32 per cwt, and July unchanged at $10.62, also well below last week's new contract high of $11.55.
CBOT soybeans settled down 10 to 50 cents per bushel on heavy commodity funds long liquation following Wednesday's dramatic losses. "From what I hear off the floor, the lion's share of the selling seems to be investment fund liquidation," said Dale Gustafson, analyst at Citigroup, of Friday's CBOT soy trade.
"We encountered some commercial buying below the unchanged levels in rice," the CBOT rough rice broker said. "R.J. O'Brien and Man Financial were light buyers".