Canola falls on profit taking

Your reading list

Canola futures slunk down Friday, crawling out of a week that wasn’t so bad.

November Winnipeg canola fell $1.40 per bushel to $575.40 and January fell $1.80 to $583 in what traders said was profit taking and exposure reduction ahead of the weekend.

The state of the prairie crop and prairie weather conditions have many market participants anxious about open positions, with few sure of the size, quality or maturity of the prairie crop.

Early in the session canola rose, taken up by the Chicago strength in soybeans and soy oil. The bean strength was attributed to forecasts of scorching weather in some parts of the Midwest, which would lead to yield potential reductions for corn and soybeans.

Later the forecasts were mellowed to suggest hot, but not brutal, conditions were coming.

The loonie hurt canola’s relative strength, at least in nominal terms.

Gold had a boffo day Friday as anxiety over the advanced world’s rickety finances drove investors to the presumed safety of hard and shiny assets. Silver gained, as did oil.

Most world stock markets moved little, digesting the bad news of the week, which included a number of unsettling downgrades and warnings about the finances of a number of nations, including Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Repeated can-kicking of the issue has repeatedly calmed markets, but each kick seems to cause the can to bounce less far forward, and many now worry that at some point it will no longer be kickable.

Part of the flatness of world equity markets Friday was attributed to the better than expected results of the stress tests of major European banks.

Winnipeg (per tonne)

Canola Nov 11 $575.40, down $1.40

Canola Jan 12 $583.00, down $1.80

Canola Mar 12 $588.20, down $2.30

Canola May 12 $592.50, down $2.10

Western Barley Oct 11 $205.00, unchanged

Chicago (per bushel)

Soybeans Aug 11 $13.8575, up 3.75 cents

Soybeans Sep 11 $13.8300, up 3.25

Soybeans Nov 11 $13.8700, up 3.00

Corn Sep 11 $7.0125, up 10.50