By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Jan. 24, 2013
Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola futures were mixed Thursday morning, although most months were posting small gains as the weaker Canadian dollar provided support.
The currency was trading below parity with its US counterpart, which makes exports more attractive and is supportive for crush margins.
In addition to the commercial buying interest, canola was also well supported from a technical standpoint and follow-through speculative buying on the recent rally helped underpin the futures as well, according to participants.
However, losses in the Chicago soy complex tempered the upside potential in canola. Improving weather conditions for soybean crops in South America were behind some of the weakness in the US futures.
An increase in farmer selling, as producers take advantage of the strong cash bids currently available, also put some downward pressure on canola values.
About 3,100 canola contracts had traded as of 8:47 CST, with inter-month spreading a feature of the activity.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged Thursday morning.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:47 CST:
