Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mostly higher on Tuesday boosted late by speculative buying, floor traders said. CBOT March rice futures settled 1 cent higher at $6.68 per hundredweight. The defenders closed 5 cents firmer to 5 cents lower. The firm close followed a choppy trading session, with the market higher on follow-through technical buying.

"That attracted profit taking from traders across the floor," one rice broker said. The profit-taking setback pushed the market into sell-stops at $6.55 in March, floor traders said. The front month reached $6.50 when a late round of buying by commercials and locals drove prices to a higher close.

Cash markets were quiet, leaving the market vulnerable to technical price swings, traders said. The US Department of Agriculture said late on Tuesday that it raised the weekly world market price for long grain rough rice to $6.46 per cwt, up 5 cents from the week before.

Estimated volume was moderate at 724 futures and 17 options. That was down from 1,473 futures traded on Monday.

Copyright Reuters, 2005