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CBOT rice ends firm on scattered short covering

CHICAGO: Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed firm on Monday on small lot short covering after the technical sell-off on Friday, traders said.

Rice closed 3 to 5 cents per cwt higher, with March up 3 at $5.59 per cwt.

"It was very quiet, no one standout firm was in here today and it was mainly a little short covering," a trader said.

Traders said the market was oversold technically and due for a bounce but fundamentals didn't warrant a significant move to the upside yet.

World rice stocks remain plentiful and there few if any weather concerns at the present time.

Weather Services Corp. Monday said drier weather in the South China rice region provided excellent conditions for any late double-crop rice harvesting.

In India, dry and warm weather through December allowed the finishing stages of the harvest of Kharif rice, and showers in southern India boosted irrigation reserves for the newly developing dry-season rice, WSC said.

Also early Monday, WSC reported no weather problems in the key rice areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan or Korea.

"It was very slow, there was some early stop loss covering that took us up a little then there was some later commercial selling that may have been some hedge selling," a trader said.

Refco Inc. was a noted seller of March and ADM Investor Services was a light buyer of the March and May, traders said.

Rice futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 450 lots, below the 1,054 lots traded Friday.-Reuters