By Phil Franz-Warkentin
Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market was sharply higher at midday Monday, taking back most of its losses from late last week as fund traders were thought to be back covering their large short positions.
Bullish chart signals added to the strength, with canola holding above some key moving averages. However, resistance at last week’s three-month highs was holding at midday with values also starting to look overbought by some technical indicators.
Gains in outside markets provided underlying support, with Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil all up on the day.
Statistics Canada reported that 897,790 tonnes of canola were crushed in the country in February, which was down by four per cent from January but up by 10.5 per cent from the same month a year ago.
An estimated 23,500 canola contracts traded as of 10:53 CDT.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne at 10:53 CDT:
Canola May 645.10 up 10.60
Jul 653.90 up 9.80
Nov 660.30 up 8.10
Jan 667.70 up 7.80
