By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, April 14 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was stronger Friday morning, with chart-based positioning ahead of the weekend behind some of the activity.
Speculators are still holding large short positions in the nearby canola contracts and have been busy covering those positions and rolling into the more deferred months.
The gains came despite losses in the Chicago soy complex. Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were also weaker overnight.
Declining crush margins also tempered the upside to some extent, although they remain well above the levels from this time a year ago.
Attention is turning to North American weather conditions, with planting just a few weeks away in the Canadian Prairies.
About 7,000 canola contracts had traded as of 8:45 CDT.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:45 CDT:
Canola May 779.20 up 8.60
Jul 747.20 up 5.90
Nov 705.50 up 2.90
Jan 708.40 up 3.70
