ICE Canola Higher In Thin Trade, Soyoil Supportive

Canadian markets will be closed Monday, August 2, for a civic holiday, while the US markets remain open.

A broker said canola was lacking any market moving news of its own and was taking most of its direction from CBOT soyoil, which was up slightly. "Canola is following the product values very precisely today," said the broker. However, he said the advances in canola were relatively small compared to soybeans.

Given the low volumes, the funds were largely absent from the canola market on Friday, according to a broker. He said commercials were on both sides of the market.

Crop conditions across western Canada are generally said to be improving, which could limit the nearby upside in canola. However, there is also still enough uncertainty regarding new crop production to keep a weather premium in the canola market, according to market participants.

The Canadian dollar was up by about half a cent relative to its US counterpart at midday Friday, tempering the upside in canola.

At 10:41 CDT, about 2,850 canola contracts had changed hands, with intermonth spreading only a small feature. A broker said the canola volume was very small, especially given the activity in the US markets.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:41 CDT: