By D’Arce McMillan, Markets editor
Twitter @ darcemcmillan
Canola futures stayed close to Wednesday’s close most of the morning, but closed a little lower.
Volume was light with traders reluctant to make big moves when the U.S. market was closed for American Thanksgiving.
The price of vegetable oils such as palm was under pressure because of the falling value of crude oil.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Corn sags as bumper US crop harvest advances, soybeans retreat
Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Board of Trade corn futures fell on Monday, retreating from a two-month high set on…
Palm was also pressured by talk that Indian buyers had defaulted on shipments of palm.
Brent crude oil plunged today as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries voted not to trim production to address the global oil surplus.
The Brent January contract was down more than $5 at $72.50 per barrel today and West Texas Intermediate fell below $69 per barrel.
Venezuela, whose budget depends on oil revenue, wanted the group to cut production to stabilize the price. But Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states decided to maintain production at current levels in the hope that it would preserve their market share and prevent new production in the U.S. from getting off the ground.
Argentine soybean planting raced ahead by 14.4 percentage points over the last seven days helped by good weather, covering 44.8 percent of expected sowing area, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly crop report on Thursday, as reported by Reuters.
The exchange expects about 51 million acres will be seeded to soybeans.
ICE Futures Canada barley traded today and rose $4. The contract is seeing a little life with 150 open interest positions in the December contract and 25 positions in March.
The falling crude price weighed heavily on the value of the loonie and on energy company shares at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Canadian dollar at noon was US88.24 cents, down from 89 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.1333.
WTI crude oil on CME’s Globex platform was trading at $69.05 per barrel, down $4.64.
Near the close of trade, the TSX composite was trading down 156.56 points or 1.04 percent at 14,881.85.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Jan 2015 427.10 -2.80 -0.65%
Canola Mar 2015 428.30 -2.50 -0.58%
Canola May 2015 430.30 -2.20 -0.51%
Canola Jul 2015 431.20 -2.10 -0.48%
Canola Nov 2015 427.90 -2.40 -0.56%
Milling Wheat Dec 2014 230.00 unch 0.00%
Milling Wheat Mar 2015 238.00 unch 0.00%
Milling Wheat May 2015 241.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Dec 2014 356.50 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Mar 2015 357.50 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat May 2015 357.50 unch 0.00%
Barley Dec 2014 174.00 +4.00 +2.35%
Barley Mar 2015 177.00 +4.00 +2.31%
Barley May 2015 177.00 +4.00 +2.31%
