Canola future edged higher Friday, completing a week of strong gains for all crop futures as weather concerns moved to the top of the agenda.
Canola gained $2.60 to $577.10 per tonne in the July contract on Friday on speculative buying and concerns about forecasts for weekend rain in some areas.
Over the week, July gained $22.30 per tonne.
Wheat roared higher this week on European crop downgrades due to drought, the continuing drought in the U.S. hard red winter wheat area, excessive rain in soft winter wheat areas and seeding delays in Canada and North Dakota. The drought in the EU is also hurting canola prospects.
Some of wheat’s gains were lost on Friday as traders took profits after the run up and rain fell in the drought stricken U.S. southern plains. Analysts believe the moisture came too late for many crops.
Corn rose on forecasts for more heavy rain in the eastern corn belt next week. Over the week, corn gained almost 12 percent.
Soybeans mostly edged higher, but gains were limited by thoughts that American farmers might have to start shifting corn acres to soybeans because of the lateness of seeding.
The Canadian Oilseed Crushers Association said members crushed 101,848 tonnes of canola in the week ending May 18, down eight percent from the previous week.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Jul 11 $577.10, up $2.60
Canola Nov 11 $583.30, up $2.90
Canola Jan 12 $590.50, up $3.10
Canola Mar 12 $594.90, up $4.00
The previous day’s best basis was $10 under the July contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The July contract’s 14-day Relative Strength Index was 55. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market
Western Barley Jul 11 $205 unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Jul 11 $13.8025, up 0.75 cents
Soybeans Aug 11 $13.7175, unchanged
Soybeans Nov 11 $13.505, up 1.0
Corn Jul 11 $7.595, up 11.25
Corn Dec 11 $6.665, up 4.5
Oats Jul 11 $3.64, unchanged
Oats Dec 11 $3.755, up 0.5
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Jul 11 $9.9975, down 6.5 cents
Spring Wheat Sep 11 $9.8075, down 8.75
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.8125, down 11.0
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York rose $1.05 to $99.49 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0272 US, down from $1.0308 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 97.35 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index closed up 27.18 points, or 0.2 percent, at 13,652.27.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 index was down 10.33 points, or 0.77 percent, at 1,333.27.
For the week, the TSX composite rose two percent, the Dow was down 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.9 percent.
