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CBOT rice bucks trend to end lower on fund selling

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed lower on Monday amid commodity fund selling, but commercial buying helped pare losses, traders said.

CBOT rice settled 4 to 8 cents per hundredweight (cwt) lower, with May off 8 cents at $5.74.

"Salomon Smith Barney sold a total of about 150 May contracts on the day," one trader said, adding that Refco Inc. was a buyer of about 50 May contracts.

"Smith-Barney sold about 100 contracts early...and Refco came in, helping to build the market. Smith-Barney later sold another 50 contracts," he added.

Rice futures bucked the trend among CBOT agricultural futures as corn, wheat and the soy complex all finished higher buoyed by a government forecast for drought in the Midwest growing area in the spring.

The US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service said on Monday that 1999/2000 US rice exports are projected at 87 million cwt, up one million from last month's forecast and nearly two percent up from a year ago.

US 1999/2000 ending stocks were projected at 39.6 million cwt, down one million from last month's forecast but more than 79 percent larger than a year ago.

Rice futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 675 contracts, compared to 915 traded on Friday. -Reuters