Canola up on short covering, rising soy, good U.S. exports

Canola futures posted their eighth consecutive day of gains and March spring wheat soared more than 5.5 percent on Thursday.

The Minneapolis thinly traded March contract jumped after a commercial firm stopped deliveries against the contract. The situation is a symptom of the rail backlog in Canada and the immediate needs at the delivery point.

Other Minneapolis months and the Chicago and Kansas wheat contracts saw modest gains

Fund money continued to pour into crop commodities, helping to lift all crop futures.

Short covering, technical strength and rising soybeans, soyoil and palm oil all supported canola. It rose despite a 0.7 cent gain in the loonie.

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Buyers rushed into palm oil futures, pushing them up 1.2 percent to a 17 month high on concerns about dry weather in South East Asia.

Veg oils also benefited from traders unwinding long soymeal-short soyoil spreads.

The uncertainty in Ukraine, were the Crimea parliament voted to join Russia today, continued to lend support to grain markets.

Strong weekly U.S. export sales of soybeans and corn helped the crop rally.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly soybean export sales for the current year of 772,700 tonnes, topping forecasts for 450,000 to 750,000 tonnes.

Soyoil futures gained 2.5 percent, hitting a six-month high.

U.S. corn export sales totaled 1.5 million tonnes, the largest in four weeks, topping analysts’ expectations for 600,000 to 850,000 tonnes.

Sales of new-crop corn were 164,500 tonnes, within expectations.

March corn jumped 2.2 percent while new crop December climbed 1.24 percent.

March oats fell again, dropping 1.2 percent but new crop December climbed a 1.1 percent.

USDA reported export sales of U.S. wheat in the latest week at 556,100 tonnes for 2013-14, above trade expectations, but sales for 2014/15 were light at 44,400 tonnes.

Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne

Canola Mar 2014 446.30 +2.70 +0.61%

Canola May 2014 457.20 +5.50 +1.22%

Canola Jul 2014 466.80 +5.50 +1.19%

Canola Nov 2014 483.60 +5.70 +1.19%

Canola Jan 2015 490.90 +5.60 +1.15%

Milling Wheat Mar 2014 202.00 -2.00 -0.98%

Milling Wheat May 2014 207.00 +2.00 +0.98%

Milling Wheat Jul 2014 206.00 +1.00 +0.49%

Durum Wheat Mar 2014 245.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat May 2014 249.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Jul 2014 250.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Mar 2014 126.50 unch 0.00%

Barley May 2014 128.50 unch 0.00%

Barley Jul 2014 128.50 unch 0.00%

American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound

Chicago

Soybeans Mar 2014 1437.5 +17.5 +1.23%

Soybeans May 2014 1438 +17.5 +1.23%

Soybeans Jul 2014 1409.5 +14.25 +1.02%

Soybeans Aug 2014 1358.25 +12.25 +0.91%

Soybeans Sep 2014 1251.25 +6.5 +0.52%

Soybeans Nov 2014 1186 +6.25 +0.53%

Soybean Meal Mar 2014 458.4 +0.7 +0.15%

Soybean Meal May 2014 450.9 +1.3 +0.29%

Soybean Meal Jul 2014 439.6 +0.8 +0.18%

Soybean Oil Mar 2014 44.27 +1.09 +2.52%

Soybean Oil May 2014 44.49 +1.09 +2.51%

Soybean Oil Jul 2014 44.56 +1.02 +2.34%

Corn Mar 2014 485.75 +10.5 +2.21%

Corn May 2014 491 +9 +1.87%

Corn Jul 2014 495.25 +9 +1.85%

Corn Sep 2014 490.5 +7.75 +1.61%

Corn Dec 2014 489.25 +6 +1.24%

Oats Mar 2014 515 -6.25 -1.20%

Oats May 2014 466.25 -7.25 -1.53%

Oats Jul 2014 396 -1.75 -0.44%

Oats Sep 2014 350.75 +4 +1.15%

Oats Dec 2014 342.75 +3.75 +1.11%

Wheat Mar 2014 641.5 +4.25 +0.67%

Wheat May 2014 646 +3.5 +0.54%

Wheat Jul 2014 649.5 +3.5 +0.54%

Wheat Sep 2014 657 +3.25 +0.50%

Wheat Dec 2014 668.75 +3 +0.45%

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat Mar 2014 741.25 +39.75 +5.67%

Spring Wheat May 2014 695.25 +6.5 +0.94%

Spring Wheat Jul 2014 689.5 +3.25 +0.47%

Spring Wheat Sep 2014 693.25 +2.25 +0.33%

Spring Wheat Dec 2014 701.75 +1.5 +0.21%

Kansas City

KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 706.25 +3 +0.43%

KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 713.25 +3 +0.42%

KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 705.75 +2.75 +0.39%

KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 711.25 +2.75 +0.39%

KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2014 722 +3.25 +0.45%

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York rose 11 cents at $101.56 US per barrel.

The Canadian dollar at noon was 91.19 cents US, up from 90.49 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0966 Cdn.

U.S. stock markets rose on a weekly report showing the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a three-month low last week,

The U.S. and Canadian government will release monthly jobs reports on Friday.

Instability in Ukraine weighed on the TSX.

In early unofficial tallies —

The TSX composite fell 32.25 points or 0.22 percent to 14,271.92

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 63.90 points, or 0.39 percent, to close at 16,424.08.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 3.22 points, or 0.17 percent, to finish at 1,877.03.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.85 points, or 0.13 percent, to end at 4,352.13.

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