By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada Inc

Winnipeg – February 2/12 – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were trading at steady to higher price levels at midday Thursday. The emergence of fresh speculative fund buying interest helped to take canola off its lows and to higher ground by midsession, market watchers said.

Canola had moved lower early in the session reflecting the declines seen overnight in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures. The taking of profits after the gains seen on Wednesday also was an early undermining price influence, traders said.

Strength in CBOT soybean futures was helping to generate a firm floor for canola, but the weakness seen in CBOT soyoil was capping the upside price potential, brokers said.

A small pick up in domestic crusher demand helped to influence some of the price strength in canola with the pricing of routine export business to Japan by commercials also seen as supportive for values, traders said.

Elevator company hedge selling, tied to steady farmer deliveries of canola into the cash pipeline in western Canada also was restricting some of the upward price action.

Further limiting the advances in canola was the Canadian dollar, which was trading near par with the US currency Thursday.

Spreading was again a big feature of the volume total in canola.

There were an estimated 6,298 canola contracts traded at 10:29 CST. Of the contracts traded, 4,584 were spread related.

There were no western barley, milling wheat, durum or new barley contracts traded as of 10:29 CST.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:29 CST: