ICE Canada Review: Canola Turns Lower on Profit-taking

Late-day profit-taking by a variety of market players pulled most canola contracts onto the minus side of the market with the declines exhibited by CBOT soybean futures also an undermining price influence, market watchers said.

Pre-weekend hedge selling by line companies also contributed to the downward price slide experienced by most canola contracts, brokers said. Ideas that canola futures had reached overbought price levels further weighed on prices.

Early support in canola had stemmed from talk of fresh Canadian canola oil export business being put on the books, traders said. There were reportedly good sales of both Canadian canola seed and canola oil made during the week, but confirmation was lacking from export outlets.

Some early buying in canola had also come from the new highs established in Malaysian palm oil overnight.

Steady domestic crusher demand contributed to some of the strength displayed by canola during the day as did some light speculative fund demand.

Spreading was a feature of the activity and contributed to the volume total seen in canola. Some position evening ahead of the weekend was also evident.

There were an estimated 17,150 canola contracts traded Friday, down from the 24,376 contracts that changed hands during the previous session. Of the contracts traded Friday, 10,836 were spread related.

Western barley futures were unchanged and untraded Friday. On Thursday, no western barley contracts changed hands.