By Phil Franz-Warkentin and Jade Markus, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Feb. 24 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were mixed at Friday’s close, seeing some consolidation to end the week.
Bearish chart signals weighed on values for most of the day, while the recent weakness in crush margins also kept canola under pressure, according to participants.
However, gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans provided underlying support, and canola ended well off its daily lows with gains in most months.
Expectations for tightening canola supplies going forward provided further support, along with the ongoing uncertainty over just how much of the canola that was left to overwinter will be harvested this spring.
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About 24,812 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 26,747 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 13,194 of the contracts traded, with the narrowing of the March/May spread a feature of the spread activity as traders exited the front month.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Friday, underpinned by weakness in the US dollar.
Losses in the greenback make the country’s commodities more appealing to international buyers.
Spill-over strength from the nearby soy oil market also provided support.
But weak export sales reported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) limited the upside ahead of the weekend.
Export sales in the week ending February 16 totalled 413,500 metric tonnes for 2016/2017, and were down 54 per cent from the previous week and 32 per cent from the prior four-week average.
That figure was below analyst expectations, which is bearish.
SOYOIL prices closed higher on Friday.
SOYMEAL closed stronger on Friday.
CORN futures closed lower on Friday, pressured by mediocre export sales, which came in below analyst expectations.
Sales reported by the USDA in the week ending February 16 were down five per cent from the previous week and 30 per cent from the prior four-week average.
However, a weaker US dollar limited the downside.
WHEAT declined in follow-through selling after yesterday’s losses.
Export sales were down 14 per cent from the previous week and 23 per cent from the prior four-week average, the USDA said.
However, a weaker US dollar limited losses.
