By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg – August 27/12 – CNS – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were trading in a mixed range at 10:35 CDT Monday morning. Canola had started the day off on a firmer footing with much of the upward price action associated with the advances experienced by CBOT soybean and soyoil values, market watchers said.

Some early support had also been derived from the overnight gains posted by Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures.

The advances in canola began to ease, however, when the nearby CBOT soybean contracts began to move lower. The downturn in CBOT soyoil further weighed on canola and turned the early gains in some contracts into losses, brokers said.

Some early support in canola had been linked to reports that heavy precipitation slowed harvest activities in Saskatchewan during the weekend, traders said.

Keeping values on the defensive was the firm tone of the Canadian dollar and pre-hedging by elevator companies, in anticipation of increased farmer deliveries of canola into the cash pipeline, brokers said.

Domestic crushers and exporters were both seen as scale down buyers of canola, which helped to temper the downside price action.

Activity in canola was described by traders as light and choppy, with volume totals said to be ‘disappointing’ by participants.

As of 10:35 CDT, about 3,543 canola contracts had traded.

There were 2 milling wheat contracts traded at weaker price levels. Durum and barley were untraded and unchanged.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:35 CDT: