By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Jan. 18, 2013
Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were higher at 10:45 CST Friday, despite losses in the CBOT soy complex. Sharp weakness in the Canadian dollar accounted for some of the gains in canola.
The Canadian dollar was down by over three-quarters of a cent relative to its US counterpart on Friday. The weaker currency makes exports more attractive and also helps crush margins improve.
“Canola is C$15 (per tonne) more attractive to a crusher now than it was a week ago,” said a broker accounting for some of the end-user buying interest. He said domestic processors, repositioning themselves after selling earlier in the week, were likely on the buy side.
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Supportive technical signals, with some sell-stops possibly hit as the March contract neared the C$600 per tonne level, added to the gains in canola, said the broker.
The losses in the CBOT soy complex did temper the upside in canola. Expectations for large South American soybean supplies also continue to overhang the oilseed markets.
US markets will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and positioning ahead of the US long weekend was a factor in Canadian market as well, said participants.
At 10:45 CST, about 7,500 canola contracts had changed hands, with intermonth spreading a feature.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were untraded and unchanged.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:45 CST:
