CME Jan lumber ends higher on pending lumber cut
CHICAGO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange lumber futures closed mixed in Friday's shortened trading, with January higher, supported in part by Tolko Industries announcing it will close its lumber unit in Alberta, Canada, in December, traders said.
* CME markets closed an hour early at noon CST (1800 GMT) on Friday after being closed on Thursday for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
* "It looks like we saw some strength from that," Sandi Costillo, a lumber trader with Rosenthal Collins, said of the Tolko news.
* On its website, Tolko said the indefinite closure would remove 385 million board feet of lumber from the market.
* Slow lumber sales, due to a slowdown in home building, have caused many lumber companies to reduce production this past year.
* Other CME lumber contracts finished lower in light trading.
* January lumber 2LBF0 closed up $1.50 per thousand board feet at $236.50. March 2LBH0 was off $1.00 at $255.50 per tbf.
* In other news, the Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO) (CNI.N) said on Wednesday it has received 72 hours' notice that its 1,700 locomotive engineers in Canada plan to strike on Nov. 28.
* Canadian National, the country's biggest railway, said it was urging the Teamsters union, which represents the engineers, to resume negotiations immediately to reach a settlement or submit disputed issues to binding arbitration before the strike deadline. [ID:nN25359621]
* Random Lengths on Wednesday reported cash spruce at $224 per tbf, up $2 from Friday. No price was quoted on Friday due to the holiday. ((bob.burgdorfer@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 312 408 8723; Reuters Messaging: bob.burgdorfer.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((For help: Click "Contact Us" in your desk top, click here [HELP] or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-5546))
