Canola futures markets rose Friday largely because of a weaker Canadian dollar and speculative investment.
January canola settled Friday at $407.90 per tonne, up $1.20 on a volume of 6,485 contracts. At one point the contract traded as high at $412.40.
March rose $1.50 to close at $414.50 per tonne on a volume of 1,283 contracts.
The Bank of Canada at noon Friday said the Canadian dollar was worth 94.13 cents US, down from 94.38 cents Thursday. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.0624 Cdn.
The Winnipeg January barley contract rose 50 cents to $158 per tonne with 14 trades. March rose 50 cents to $159.50 per tonne with no trades.
Negotiators from Canadian National Railway and the union representing locomotive engineers met Friday to try to avert strike action, which could take place as early as Saturday.
A strike would interfere with grain exports.
As of Friday afternoon there was no word on how the talks were going.
All world markets were shaken early in the day after news that Dubai, the small kingdom on the Persian Gulf vying to be the region’s financial hub, said it would ask creditors of its two leading firms to suspend debt repayments as part of restructuring.
One of the firms, Dubai World, known for its huge real estate development including man made islands, has $59 billion US in debt. The default raised worries about the financial health of emerging economies.
Light crude fell 2.5 percent to settle at $76.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Later in the day markets began to recover.
American markets traded for only a half day Friday after being closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.
Word of stronger-than-expected exports lifted corn prices at the Chicago Board of Trade. Soybean exports were also strong, helping to limit the soybean contract’s fall to 1.5 cents to $10.53 per bushel.
Weak wheat exports pressured the Chicago December wheat contract down 1.5 cents to $5.4875 per bu.
