CHICAGO, Dec 6: US rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rallied the 50-cent limit and reached a two-week high on Friday, and the front-month spread firmed after big cancellations of CBOT grain registrations, traders said.

All 370 CBOT rice registrations were canceled late Thursday, a sign of firm cash markets.

Industry talk of the cancellations rallied rice on Thursday.

The higher trend in rice is in contrast to the weakness in other grains as the bleak economic outlook weighs on all markets, including commodities.

Signs of a deepening global economic recession came on Friday. U.S. Labor Department data showed that 533,000 jobs, the most in 34 years, were axed in November. Unemployment rate hit 6.7 per cent last month, the highest since 1993.

January rice ended 44 cents higher at $14.13 per hundredweight; March closed 23-1/2 up at $13.93.—Reuters