Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed lower on Friday on commercial selling but a late flurry of fund buying lifted values off session lows, traders said. May rice settled 2 cents lower at $7.60 per hundredweight and most-active July ended down 1-1/2 at $7.75, but well above its low of $7.66. Volume was light, estimated at 301 futures and 33 options. Commercial selling from Man Financial and Rosenthal Collins weighed on values early in the day along with scattered, light speculative selling, traders said.
Fimat Futures was the featured late buyer of July and November, while Man and Refco Inc were scale-up sellers, traders said.
Fundamental news was lacking. Traders and analysts in Asia said abundant Chinese grains crops this year and last, coupled with slower-than-expected growth in domestic consumption, point to smaller Chinese imports of wheat or rice, even if the yuan is allowed to appreciate against the dollar.
After the markets closed, the CFTC's weekly Commitments of Trades report showed large speculators extended their net long position in CBOT rice during the week ended May 10.
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