Canola, soybeans and corn were down on Friday but wheat staged a bargain buying rally.

After the sharp declines yesterday and earlier in the week, wheat rallied, with the strongest gains in Minneapolis spring wheat, which rose 2.09 percent in the May contract.

That moderated what was a bad week for wheat, which slid on poor U.S. exports and showers in parts of the U.S. plains.

For the week, CBOT May wheat fell 22.25 cents per bushel or 4.2 percent. Kansas City May wheat fell 16.5 cents or 2.9 percent, MGEX May spring wheat fell 26.5 cents or 4.4 percent.

Although parts of the eastern Plains got scattered showers, the driest areas in the west saw no relief.

Canola fell Friday weighed down by technical selling and weaker soybeans.

The loss today was mitigated by a weaker Canadian dollar.

May canola fell $5.30 to $448.60 per tonne. It finished down 2.7 percent for the week.

November closed at $442.10, down $6.30 on Friday.

For the week, November lost $2.80 or 0.6 percent.

The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed a record 162,166 tonnes of canola in the week ending March 25, an increase of 1.2 percent

That represented a capacity use of almost 88.7 percent, up from the average for the year of 82.4 percent.

Soybeans fell on Friday on expectations for a record large seeded acreage in the U.S. this spring and on strong competition from the record large soybean harvest in South America.

For the week, the front-month soybean contract fell 0.6 percent. Soyoil futures were 0.1 percent lower and soymeal fell 0.3 percent.

In corn, the most-active may contract reversed from narrow gains early in the day and settled lower, still gaining about 1.7 percent for the week. Prices reached roughly a five-week peak on Thursday.

The USDA releases its prospective plantings survey on Tuesday.

On average analysts expect soybean acreage at 85.919 million acres, up from 83.701 million last year.

They expect 88.731 million acres of corn, down from 90.597 million last year.

The expectation for spring wheat is 13.334 million acres, up from 13.025 million last year.

Durum acreage is expected at 1.759 million, up from 1.398 million last year.

The USDA will also release March 1 grain stocks.

On average traders expect wheat stocks will be 1.14 billion bushels, corn stocks of 7.609 billion bu. and soybean stocks of 1.346 billion bu.

All are up substantially from March 1 2014.

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were down $2.56 to US$48.87 per barrel.

The Canadian dollar at noon was US79.49 cents, down from 80.19 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.2580.

In unofficial tallies:

The TSX composite fell 57.38 points or 0.39 percent to 14,812.42

The index was down almost 0.9 percent on the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 31.96 points, or 0.18 percent, to 17,710.19, the S&P 500 gained 4.68 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,060.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 27.86 points, or 0.57 percent, to 4,891.22.

For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.2 percent, the Dow lost 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq declined 2.7 percent.

Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne

Canola May 2015     448.60     -5.30       -1.17%

Canola Jul 2015       449.60     -6.30       -1.38%

Canola Nov 2015     442.10     -6.30       -1.40%

Canola Jan 2016      442.90     -6.30       -1.40%

Canola Mar 2016      444.70     -6.30       -1.40%

 

Milling Wheat May 2015    236.00     +5.00      +2.16%

Milling Wheat Jul 2015     237.00     +4.00      +1.72%

Milling Wheat Oct 2015    240.00     +3.00      +1.27%

 

Durum Wheat May 2015   323.00     unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Jul 2015     313.00     unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Oct 2015    318.00     unch 0.00%

 

Barley May 2015      202.00     unch 0.00%

Barley Jul 2015       202.00     unch 0.00%

Barley Oct 2015      187.00     unch 0.00%

 

American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound

 

Chicago

Soybeans May 2015 967.25     -7.25       -0.74%

Soybeans Jul 2015   972.25     -6.5  -0.66%

Soybeans Aug 2015 971.25     -6.5  -0.66%

Soybeans Sep 2015 956.75     -6    -0.62%

Soybeans Nov 2015 948.75     -6.5  -0.68%

Soybeans Jan 2016  953.5      -6.75       -0.70%

 

Soybean Meal May 2015  321.4      -1    -0.31%

Soybean Meal Jul 2015    320.4      -0.5  -0.16%

Soybean Meal Aug 2015  319.1      -0.3  -0.09%

 

Soybean Oil May 2015     30.6 -0.57       -1.83%

Soybean Oil Jul 2015       30.83      -0.56       -1.78%

Soybean Oil Aug 2015     30.91      -0.55       -1.75%

 

Corn May 2015 391  -0.25       -0.06%

Corn Jul 2015  399  -0.25       -0.06%

Corn Sep 2015 406.5      -0.25       -0.06%

Corn Dec 2015 414.75     unch 0.00%

Corn Mar 2016 423.75     unch 0.00%

 

Oats May 2015 272.25     -5.5  -1.98%

Oats Jul 2015  273.75     -5.25       -1.88%

Oats Sep 2015 276  -4.5  -1.60%

Oats Dec 2015 277.25     -3.25       -1.16%

Oats Mar 2016 281.5      -3.25       -1.14%

 

Wheat May 2015     507.75     +8.5 +1.70%

Wheat Jul 2015       512  +7.25      +1.44%

Wheat Sep 2015      521  +6.75      +1.31%

Wheat Dec 2015     535  +6.25      +1.18%

Wheat Mar 2016      548.25     +6.25      +1.15%

 

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat May 2015   575  +11.75     +2.09%

Spring Wheat Jul 2015     580.25     +11.25     +1.98%

Spring Wheat Sep 2015   587.25     +10.5      +1.82%

Spring Wheat Dec 2015   597.25     +10  +1.70%

Spring Wheat Mar 2016   609  +9.5 +1.58%

 

Kansas City

Hard Red Wheat May 2015      553  +10  +1.84%

Hard Red Wheat Jul 2015 557.75     +9    +1.64%

Hard Red Wheat Sep 2015      568.75     +8.75      +1.56%

Hard Red Wheat Dec 2015      584  +9    +1.57%

Hard Red Wheat Mar 2016       595.5      +9    +1.53%