By Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, February 10 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market finished stronger on Friday, taking strength from gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans.
Investors were rolling out of the March contract and into May. According to one Winnipeg-based trader, this move usually happens in the middle of a given month but “speculators don’t like to be stuck in the spot contract” so it happened a few days early.
Advances in soybeans, crude oil, and European rapeseed futures, underpinned the market.
Read Also
Canadian Financial Close: Loonie, crude oil advance
The Canadian dollar reached its highest close in nine days on Wednesday, aided by higher crude oil prices. The loonie…
However, losses in soyoil and Malaysian palm oil futures limited the gains.
Crush values were a touch softer, which weighed on the market.
The Canadian dollar was stronger compared to its US counterpart, which made canola less enticing to out-of-country buyers.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were untraded.
About 57,878 canola contracts traded on Friday which compares with Thursday when 43,438 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 43,964 of the contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were up by three to eight cents per bushel on Friday, taking back all of Thursday’s losses to end the week.
Solid export demand accounted for some of the strength in the futures, with the USDA reporting a sale of 140,000 tonnes to ‘unknown destinations.’
Concerns over flood damage in parts of South America remained somewhat supportive as well, although the nearby forecasts look relatively favourable across most of the soybean growing regions of Brazil and Argentina.
SOYOIL futures settled with small losses on Friday, as traders made adjustments to the soyoil/soymeal spreads.
SOYMEAL futures were higher on Friday.
CORN futures in Chicago were up by two to five cents per bushel on Friday, as chart-based buying and spillover from the advances in soybeans provided support.
Yesterday’s monthly USDA supply/demand report provided some underlying support for corn, as both the US and world carryout numbers were revised lower.
However, the good South American crop prospects did limit the upside. Chart-resistance was also holding.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were up by five to seven cents per bushel on Friday, seeing some follow-through buying after Thursday’s gains.
Solid end user demand, tightening world supplies, and weather concerns in some US winter wheat growing regions contributed to the advances.
