Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed firm on Friday on follow-through technical buying in quiet trade, floor traders said. July rice closed 5 cents higher at $7.52-1/2 per hundredweight and the deferred were up 4 cents. Volume was light estimated at 412 contracts and 2 options. Some mild support stemmed from US weekly rice export sales data.
"Exports were reasonably good but not enough to put a fire in the market," said one rice trader.
The US Department of Agriculture reported on Friday that last week's US rice exports sales reached 88,200 tonnes.
Old-crop sales of 87,000 tonnes were 33 percent above the previous week. No sales or shipments were reported for Iraq, which has shown interest in US rice this year for the first time in more than a decade.
The market attracted commercial sales after climbing near the highs of $7.55 in July and $7.81 in September. That was met by speculative buying, mostly local traders that sent prices higher again near the close, traders said.
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