A partial recovery from sharp losses after Wednesday’s bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture report lifted canola futures Thursday.
The gains came despite downward pressure from a stronger Canadian dollar, weakening crush margins for domestic processors, large global soybean supplies and expectations of increased canola seeding this spring in Canada and the United States.
Settlement of the Argentine port workers strike was also negative for oilseed prices.
Support came from short covering, which is the buying back of previously sold positions, and stronger vegetable and crude oil prices.
The May canola contract rose 70 cents to $380.70 per tonne on 8,443 trades. Over the week, the May contract fell 0.4 percent or $1.60 per tonne.
Markets are closed Good Friday.
The previous day’s best basis widened to -$8.65 per tonne off the May contract in the par region, according to the Winnipeg ICE Futures daily report.
The 14-day Relative Strength Index for May canola was 55, according to BarChart.com. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an oversold market and 70 indicates overbought.
July canola rose 20 cents to $386.10 on 4,747 trades.
New crop November rose 50 cents to $386.80 per tonne on 1,356 trades.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 99.26 cents US, up from 98.46 cents at noon the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0075 Cdn.
Winnipeg barley again saw no trade. The May contract was steady at $154 per tonne. July was steady at $145. December was steady at $150.
Chicago May soybeans rose one cent to $9.42 US per bushel. November soybeans rose 6.75 cents to $9.255 per bu.
May oats rose 2.5 cents to $2.105 per bu.
Light crude oil for May delivery rose $1.11 to $84.87 per barrel.
The Canadian Grain Commission’s export report for February showed that despite restrictions, 113,600 tonnes of Canadian canola were shipped to China during the month. It brought the total to the end of February to 1.37 million tonnes to China, up from 1.29 million last year at the same point.
