Canola futures fell hard again Thursday and the March contract is now down more than $25 per tonne since the close on the first trading day of the year.
A stronger Canadian dollar, prospects for a bumper South American soybean crop, lower crude oil, continuing fallout from Tuesday’s bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture report and fund selling weighed on prices.
Soybean futures also fell, but the decline was limited by strong weekly export and crush reports.
January canola expired at $387 per tonne, down $6.20.
March fell $6.20 to close at $385 on 10,462 trades. March canola at one point fell as low as $382.50, the lowest price in three months for the March contract.
May also fell $6.20 to close at $392.20 on 623 trades.
New crop November closed down $6.20 at $410.50.
Trend-watching funds are taking short positions, selling 3,000 contracts Thursday.
The Relative Strength Index for March canola is 31.91. The rule of thumb is that an RSI of 30 indicates an oversold market and 70 indicates overbought.
The Bank of Canada at noon Thursday said the Canadian dollar was worth 97.46 cents US, up from 96.88 cents the previous day. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.0261 Cdn.
The Winnipeg January barley contract expired down $2 at $154.50. March also fell $2 to $151 on 41 trades. May fell $1.30 to $157 on 38 trades.
Chicago March soybeans, the most active month, fell 8.5 cents to $9.84 US per bushel.
Light crude oil in New York for February delivery fell to $79.39 US per barrel, down 26 cents on disappointing U.S. jobs and retail data.
Wheat and corn futures also fell Thursday on fallout from the USDA report and weaker than expected weekly corn exports.
