ICE Canada Review: Canola Recovers As C$ Eases
| 2 min read
| By Dwayne Klassen, Resource News International |
| April 15, 2010 |
| Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform finished Thursday’s session with advances. Strength was associated with an early afternoon pull-back in the value of the Canadian dollar and in view of the double-digit rally experienced by CBOT soybean prices, market watchers said.
Spreading was again a big part of the volume total seen in canola as commodity fund accounts continued to bail out of the nearby May future and into the July or November contracts. Canola contracts had traded at lower levels for a good portion of the day before the nearbys turned higher near the close, brokers said. Weakness in canola had been tied to the firm Canadian dollar and the resulting drop off in end-user demand. The lack of willing buyers in the canola market and steady hedge selling by grain companies also helped to weigh on values. Some of the early weakness was also linked to the improved soil moisture condition in Western Canada for spring seeding. However, when the Canadian dollar began to weaken, and as it moved below parity with the US greenback, domestic crushers and commercials again stepped up to the plate and began buying the nearby contracts. The upward move in canola also triggered the buying back of previously sold positions by a variety of market players, which further supported prices, brokers said. Some position evening ahead of the Statistics Canada acreage report scheduled to be released on April 26, was also evident in the activity, traders said. There were an estimated 19,904 canola contracts traded Thursday, down from 20,176 during the previous session. Of the contracts traded,15,024 contracts were spread related. Western barley futures were untraded in non-existent activity but the nearby May future ended on an offer lower. No barley contracts changed hands during the session. On Wednesday, no barley contracts were traded. |
