Canola futures rose Friday, riding the coattails of crude oil and soybeans.
May canola rose $6.80 per tonne on the day, but fell $2 or 0.3 percent from the previous Friday.
Corn closed the day with small gains despite a USDA report that was initially seen as bearish.
USDA kept its year end corn stocks forecast steady at 670 million bushels, surprising traders who though it would fall to about 586 million bu. to reflect the March 1 stocks report that was released last week.
However, the perception of today’s report began to change with traders now thinking that USDA believes 670 million bu. is a minimum pipeline level and stocks can go no lower.
U.S. crop futures were supported by a sharply lower U.S. dollar and stronger crude oil prices.
The U.S. buck dropped when the European central bank increased interest rates. That in turn pushed up crude oil and most U.S. dollar denominated commodities.
Oil was also supported by worries that violence and unrest in Libya, the Middle East and Nigeria could hurt the supply of oil.
The Canadian dollar rose against the American buck and that limited the gains in canola.
But canola was supported by more moisture falling in southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 108,666 tonnes of canola in the week ending April 6, down almost 13 percent from the week before.
There were rumours of fresh commercial demand in the market. The basis narrowed, supporting the demand talk.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola May 11 $588.90, up $6.80
Canola Jul 11 $597.80, up $7.10
Canola Nov 11 $583.50, up $8.10
Canola Jan 12 $590.00, up $8.70
The previous day’s best basis narrowed to $6.53 under the May contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The May contract’s Relative Strength Index was 54. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
Western Barley May 11 $200, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans May 11 $13.9225, up 28.75 cents
Soybeans Jul 11 $14.0375, up 28.25 cents
Soybeans Nov 11 $13.96, up 30.5 cents
Corn May 11 $7.68, up 9 cents
Corn Dec 11 $6.53, up 8.75 cents
Oats May 11 $3.935, up 20 cents
Oats Jul 11 $4.02, up 20 cents
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat May 11 $9.5325, up 12.5 cents
Spring Wheat Jul 11 $9.6125, up 11.25 cents
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.7325, up 12 cents
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York jumped $2.49 to $112.79 US per barrel on the war in Libya and unrest in the Middle East.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0454 US, up from $1.0424 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 95.66 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index rose 100.66 points, or 0.71 percent, to 14,207.43.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5.34 points, or 0.40 percent, to 1,328.17.
For the week, the TSX ended up 0.55 percent, the Dow rose 0.03 percent while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each lost 0.3 percent.
