By Terryn Shiells, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Feb. 20 – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were narrowly mixed amid choppy activity at 10:34 CST Thursday.
Some continued short covering following last week’s sharp price drop helped to support the market, as did ideas that canola is undervalued compared to other oilseeds, analysts said.
Spillover support also came from the advances seen in Chicago soybean and soyoil futures.
The downswing in the value of the Canadian dollar, and resulting improvement in crush margins, further underpinned prices.
On the other side, a pickup in farmer selling due to warmer weather and stronger prices in Western Canada limited the gains, brokers said.
Profit taking following recent gains and continued problems moving canola out of the Prairies were also bearish.
As of 10:34 CST Thursday, about 11,900 contracts had traded. Spreading was a large feature of the activity, according to traders.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were untraded, following slight revisions to wheat prices after the close on Wednesday.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:34 CST:
