Old crop canola futures prices moved higher Tuesday, closing at $569.40 for the January and $576.40 for the March, but new crop prices were less peppy.
November 2011 canola moved up just 50 cents per tonne to $522, compared to rises of $2.80 for January 2011 and $2 for March 2011.
Canola gained strength from slightly higher Chicago soybean prices and from a sense that canola is relatively cheap.
Prices were firmed by little farmer selling in the last two weeks of 2010, with many farmers speculating that prices will move higher in the new year.
Chicago soybeans rose by nine cents to $13.24 US per bushel for the March contract, while corn rose by slightly more than two cents.
Minneapolis spring wheat futures fell by nearly two cents per bushel and Chicago soft winter wheat fell four cents, bucking the gains in the sibling crops, while hard red winter wheat in Kansas City saw a slight gain.
The Canadian dollar slightly rose to 98.3 cents to the U.S. dollar in terms of relative value.
Crude oil rose 34 cents to $89.71 per barrel, while gold rose $2.70 to $1,388.20.
Copper, a thermometer for investors’ confidence about economic growth, rose by 1.67 percent, reflecting healthy gains in world stock markets.
Toronto’s TSX rose 1.22 percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.48 percent.
Europe’s FTSE, DAX and CAC40 all rose around one percent as fears subsided about the continent’s ongoing sovereign debt crisis.
