By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Jan. 3, 2013
Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were slightly weaker at 10:37 CST Thursday, in thin holiday trade as the market reacted to movements in the US soy complex.
Bearish technical signals and the relatively favourable crop conditions for soybeans in South America accounted for some of the weakness in CBOT soybeans that spilled into canola, according to a broker.
The technical picture for canola is also “not looking great,” encouraging some light speculative selling in the Canadian market, said the broker.
Light farmer selling was also noted, although producers generally remain content to wait on the sidelines for the time being.
Scale-down end user buying did help temper the declines in canola, said the broker. Ongoing concerns over tightening supplies in western Canada were also supportive.
At 10:37 CST, about 4,500 canola contracts had changed hands. The January/March spread was a feature, widening out to C$20 per tonne at one point as participants were exiting the front month.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were untraded and unchanged.
