Crop markets including canola were generally down on Tuesday as traders and speculators took profits after recent price gains.
The market remains well supported with weather problems in Australia, the U.S. hard red winter wheat region and Argentina’s corn and soybean areas.
Early, Winnipeg canola climbed to a contract high of $573.50 per tonne, but then drifted back to close lower.
Strong crusher demand is underpinning canola.
U.S. corn futures were pressured lower by thoughts that Asian feed buyers would turn to Australian feed wheat to meet their needs instead of buying American corn.
Wheat fell sharply, partly due to a drier forecast for wet areas in Australia allowing harvest there to resume.
In Winnipeg, the January canola contract fell $6.80 to $564.10 per tonne on 12,869 trades.
The March contract fell $6.20 to $572.60 on 13,753 trades.
The November 2011 contract fell $6 to $512.80.
The previous day’s best basis was $24 under the nearby contract.
The January contract 14-day Relative Strength Index was 63.
The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
December barley futures were steady at $188 per tonne. March was steady at $194.
Chicago January soybeans fell 6.5 cents to $12.96 US per bushel.
March corn fell 1.25 cents to $5.8725.
March oats fell six cents to $3.85 per bu.
March Minneapolis hard spring wheat fell 27.5 cents to $8.435 per bu.
In New York, crude oil for January delivery fell 33 cents to $88.28 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 99.59 cents US, little changed from 99.54 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0041 Cdn.
The TSX composite index fell 15.78 points to close at 13,280.08.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.13 points to 1,241.59.
