October 27, 2002	Sunday	Sha’aban 20,1423

CHICAGO, Oct 26: Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures ended lower on Friday on speculative profit-taking after nearby November and January contracts hit 3-week highs, floor brokers said.

Rough rice futures ended down 10 to 11 cents per hundredweight, with November down 11 cents at $3.76 and January down 10 cents at $4.01 per cwt.

There was early good buying by funds and some large specs, and we hit buy stops at the $4.12 to $4.13 level in January, one CBOT rice trader said. But we couldn’t sustain the gains and so there was some profit-taking. We also had a pretty good rally yesterday, so there was room for profit-taking.

January rice hit a high of $4.18, the highest level since Oct. 4, before turning down to end below the 20-day moving average, while nearby November hit a high of $3.93, also the highest level since Oct. 4, before turning down to close below the 20-day moving average of $3.82 per cwt.—Reuters