Winnipeg canola futures fell on Thursday, dragged down by Chicago soybeans, which were battered by a rally in the U.S. dollar.
Many commodities that trade in U.S. dollars fell by three percent or more, but January canola was down just 1.5 percent, with some of the pain offset by the weaker Canadian dollar.
The American buck rose the day after the Federal Reserve noted improvements in the U.S. economy and said it would end most of its emergency lending by February. The euro was weakened by worries about Greece’s fiscal situation.
January canola settled at $406.50 per tonne, down $6 from the previous day on a volume of 7,491 contracts.
March fell $6.40 to close at $413.60 per tonne on a volume of 13,855 contracts. May fell $6.80 to $420.40 on 939 trades.
The Bank of Canada at noon Thursday said the Canadian dollar was worth 93.34 cents US, down from 94.52 cents on Wednesday. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.0713 Cdn.
The Winnipeg January barley contract was steady at $159 per tonne with 38 trades and March rose $1 to $162 on five trades.
Chicago January soybeans fell 37.5 cents to $10.22 US per bushel.
Weekly U.S. soybean exports were above traders’ expectations, and corn exports took a big jump, rising 45 percent from the previous week. U.S. corn and wheat exports have struggled this year.
Crude oil was almost unchanged at $72.65 per barrel in New York.
