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CBOT rice ends lower on profit taking, sell stops

CHICAGO: Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Monday as declines from profit-taking ran into sell stops, CBOT traders said.

CBOT rice settled 6 to 12 cents per hundredweight (cwt) lower, with May off 10-1/2 at $5.73.

"There was profit taking early in the session and there were some sell stops on the way down," one trader said.

He said the May contract saw profit-taking at the $5.74 to $5.80 level. Sellers included Rosenthal Collins, ED&F Man International, Lind-Waldock and Salomon Smith Barney.

There was also lingering pressure from last Friday's US Agriculture Department quarterly report that listed rough rice stocks as of March 1 at 90.2 million cwt, up 12 percent from a year ago.

Milled rice stocks totalled 4.57 million cwt, up 5 percent from a year ago.

Rice futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 500 contracts, compared to 448 traded on Friday. -Reuters