| By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada |
| Nov. 23, 2012 |
| Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were lower at Friday’s close, as bearish technical signals and the strong Canadian dollar weighed on values. The losses in canola came despite the firmer tone in the CBOT soy complex, as solid export demand and production uncertainty in South America helped underpin the US futures. Read AlsoCanadian Financial Close: C$ softens TuesdayGlacier FarmMedia — The Canadian dollar was slightly weaker on Monday, as the latest inflation data The Canadian dollar settled… However, canola lagged soybeans to the upside for most of the day and the Canadian futures turned lower heading into the close. The Canadian dollar was up by about half a cent relative to its US counterpart on Friday, which cuts into crush margins and makes exports less attractive. Ideas that canola is overpriced compared to other oilseeds also put downward pressure on values, said traders. Canola also ran into upside resistance from a technical perspective. The January contract made an attempt to break above upside resistance at C$580 per tonne. However, when values failed to hold above that level the resulting speculative selling built on itself, said participants. About 13,692 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 5,612 contracts changed hands. Spreading was a feature, accounting for about 9,926 of the contracts traded. Milling wheat and barley futures were untraded and unchanged. Durum was steady to lower in thin commercial activity. Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.Price Change Canola Jan 575.90 dn 2.50 Mar 574.00 dn 2.20 May 573.50 dn 1.70 Milling Wheat Dec 297.30 unch Mar 305.30 unch Durum Dec 312.00 unch Mar 316.00 dn 1.00 Barley Dec 250.00 unch Mar 253.00 unch |
