ICE Canola Slightly Lower In Thin Trade
By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Feb. 1 – ICE Canada canola futures were slightly weaker Tuesday morning, but holding within a narrow range as the market saw some consolidation after moving higher on Monday. Traders said there was a lack of any fresh new to provide direction.
CBOT soybeans were being called slightly higher to start the North American session, which was lending some spillover support to canola, according to traders. However, a general sense of uncertainty in the outside markets kept a cautious tone in canola, as traders were following the political unrest in Egypt and other parts of the world.
Exporters and domestic crushers remain some of the featured buyers in canola, with talk of some fresh business being priced into the market. Some light speculative buying was also noted, although canola was said to be nearing some upside resistance.
Small amounts of profit-taking and farmer hedges put downward pressure on canola, keeping the general bias to the downside.
A firmer tone in the Canadian dollar, which was back above parity with its US counterpart once again, was also bearish for canola.
Statistics Canada is set to release an update on Canadian grain and oilseed stocks, as of December 31, on Friday. Some positioning ahead of the report was to be expected, although traders noted that more of the attention in the canola market was starting to turn to new crop ideas.
About 160 canola contracts had traded as of 8:40 CST.
Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged Tuesday morning.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:40 CST:
Price Change
Canola Mar 603.10 dn 0.50
May 611.70 dn 0.70
Nov 572.00 unch
Western Barley Mar 194.00 unch
May 200.00 unch
