Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed higher on Wednesday on a pre-holiday bounce in light trade during the shortened session, traders said. CBOT markets closed at noon CST (1800 GMT) before the US Thanksgiving holiday. They will reopen on Thursday night for the electronic session.
Those contracts that traded hit fresh highs amid speculative buying. Commercial hedge sales out of MF Global weighed on futures. The front two months closed 10 cents per hundredweight higher with January at $13.07, just below its contract top of $13.11 and March at $13.38.
The sliding dollar, a pick-up in exports and prospects for fewer 2008 US rice planting remain supportive features. USDA raised its weekly world market price for long grain rough price by 30 cents to $8.63 per cwt.