Canola and soybean futures fell on Wednesday mostly because traders were readjusting the spreads between soybeans and corn.
Canola was also pressured by the slow but steady rise of the Canadian dollar, which increases the cost of Canadian products for foreign buyers.
Slow farmer selling limited losses.
November canola settled at $525.60 per tonne, down $5.70 or 1.07 percent.
Chicago wheat fell, but Minneapolis spring wheat rose again.
Protein is becoming an issue as wet weather in the past couple of weeks hit the Australian wheat crop, downgrading its protein. However, growers there are expecting total production to be close to last year’s record.
There has been no rain in the hard red winter wheat region of the U.S. for the past two weeks leading to crop stress.
Outside markets continued to exert influence. Equities, oil and commodities generally were lower on revived worries about the European debt situation. Rumours Tuesday of an agreement between France and Germany to increase a debt relief fund proved false. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France flew to Germany to talk with chancellor Angela Merkel today to discuss the situation but there were no public statements after the meeting.
The market is looking for a strong plan to come out of a European leaders’ summit on Sunday.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Nov 11 $525.60,down $5.70 (-1.07%)
Canola Jan 12 $535.40, down $6.00 (-1.11%)
Canola Mar 12 $544.30, down $6.00 (-1.09%)
Canola May 12 $550.80, down$6.70 (-1.20%)
The previous day’s best basis was $16.90 under the November contract, according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The November contract’s 14-day Relative Strength Index was 42. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold and 70 is over bought.
Western Barley Dec 11 $215 unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Nov 11 $12.25, down 25.75 cents (-2.06%)
Soybeans Jan 12 $12.3125, down 25.0 (-1.99%)
Soybeans Mar 12 $12.385, down 24.0 (-1.90%)
Corn Dec 11 $6.385, down 5.5 (-0.85%)
Corn Mar 12 $6.485, down 4.25 (-0.65%)
Oats Dec 11 $3.37, down 2.0 (-0.59%)
Oats Mar 12 $3.47, down 2.0 (-0.57%)
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.115, up 5.0 cents (+0.55%)
Spring Wheat Mar 12 $8.495, up 1.0 (+0.12%)
Spring Wheat May 12 $8.315, up 2.0 (+0.24%)
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell $2.23 to $86.11 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 98.66 cents US, up from 98.40 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 1.0136 Cdn.
In a preliminary tally, the Toronto Stock Exchange composite index fell 203.61 points, or 1.69 percent, to 11,849.50.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 15.42 points, or 1.26 percent, at 1,209.96.
