Canola prices couldn’t climb faster than other markets plunged Thursday, ending up down despite hitting near-term highs early in the session.
“It’s chaos. Some historic moves in the markets today,” said one Winnipeg trader.
Canola prices reached a five-week peak of $393.50 per tonne in the July ICE Canada Futures contract before dropping to $389.10 to end the day down $1.70.
November canola ended down $2.10 at $390.70.
The Canadian dollar slumped to 95.29 cents from the day-before close of 97.12 as investors fled most currencies for the apparent safety of the U.S. dollar.
Crude oil slumped to $77.0 per barrel, a 3.6 percent drop on the day.
Most traders attributed the cross-market slump to panic and program selling incited by the contagion of the Greek debt crisis. Even though violent protests in Athens eased, the Greek parliament appeared to be accepting the need for fiscal austerity and the European bailout appeared to be still on-track, worries from Europe spilled over into North American markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged by more than 800 points to just beneath 10,000 before staging a strong recovery, ending the day down 3.21 percent at 10,519.
The slump of the Canadian dollar was supportive to canola because canola is priced in Canadian dollars, unlike most world commodities, but the slump in oil values undercut canola, which can be used to make biodiesel.
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures ended down 24 cents per bushel at $9.54 and soyoil dropped 0.81 cents per pound to 38.21 cents per pound.
