| By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada |
| Jan. 26, 2012 |
| Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts closed higher on Thursday, as gains in the CBOT soy complex helped encourage some speculative and end-user buying interest in canola, according to traders.Weather concerns in South America, and the resulting uncertainty over the size of the soybean crops there, provided underlying support for the oilseed markets on Thursday, including canola, said participants. Statements from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, that they intend to keep interest rates unchanged near zero through 2014, were also supportive for the US grains and oilseeds. That buying interest spilled into the canola market as well, said traders.
Speculators, exporters, and domestic crushers were all noted buyers, with increasing concerns over the dry conditions across western Canada also providing support, according to participants. However, canola did run into technical resistance to the upside. An increase in farmer hedges, as prices neared the upper edge of their recent range, tempered the advances. A stronger tone in the Canadian dollar, which moved above parity with its US counterpart at one point before backing away, was also bearish for canola. About 24,193 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when an estimated 17,261 contracts changed hands. Spreading was a feature, accounting for 18,308 of the contracts traded. Milling wheat and durum both posted solid gains, although activity remained light in the new contracts. Barley futures, both the old and new, were untraded and unchanged. Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
Price Change Canola Mar 527.30 up 2.90 May 533.70 up 3.60 Nov 513.60 up 6.60 Western Barley Mar 212.00 unch May 215.00 unch Milling Wheat Oct 265.00 up 4.50 Dec 270.00 up 4.50 Durum Oct 268.50 up 6.00 Dec 273.00 up 6.00 Barley Oct 171.00 unch Dec 175.00 unch |
