By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were trading at mostly weaker price levels at 09:19 EDT Thursday morning. Losses overnight in the outside oilseed markets helped to generate some of the selling seen in canola, market watchers said. Activity was described as light and consolidative in nature.

Losses were posted in CBOT soybean and soyoil futures early Thursday morning with sharp declines experienced overnight in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures.

Rain is moving across the US Corn Belt, possibly putting commercial pressure on the CBOT soybean market. The grain markets seem to be shifting focus from weather to chart patterns and macro tensions, analysts said. However, the daily decline in trade analysts yield estimates continues to provide support for CBOT corn and soybeans.

Favourable weather on the Canadian Prairies for the development of canola fields is providing modest downward price pressure. There are reports that farmers in Manitoba have already begun to harvest early seeded canola, brokers said.

The pricing of canola by farmers continued to be viewed as an undermining feature for canola prices. The continued upswing in the value of the Canadian dollar was also putting some downward pressure on prices.

Chartwise, the November canola will likely encounter overhead resistance in the C$620 to C$630/tonne. Psychological support in the Nov future is believed to reside near the C$600/tonne level, which is also the 50% Fibonacci

retracement level of the June/July rally, an analyst said.

As of 9:19 EDT, there were 796 canola contracts traded.

As of 9:19 EDT, there were no milling wheat, durum or barley contracts traded.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 9:19 EDT: