ICE Canola Futures Unchanged In Non-Existent Trade
| 2 min read
| By Dwayne Klassen, Resource News International |
| May 31, 2010 |
| Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were unchanged at 9:32 EDT. The closure of the US markets for Memorial Day resulted in non-existent price activity in ICE canola contracts overnight and early Monday morning, market watchers said.
Participants were expecting an extremely choppy and thin volume environment in canola as a result. Financial markets are also very quiet with both the US and UK on holiday today. Some minor selling was eventually anticipated given the declines seen in Malaysian palm oil futures overnight, brokers said. Seeding delays due to extremely wet soil conditions across western Canada could provide some minor support for values, but the firmness in the Canadian dollar was offsetting that upside price potential. The Bank of Canada will make a decision on interest rates Tuesday morning, which will likely have an impact on the direction of the Canadian currency. The traditional commodity funds were holding large short positions in canola, while the speculative index funds remain long canola, brokers said. The funds have been actively rolling those positions out of the nearby July contract and into the Nov futures, and traders expected fund rolling to remain a feature in the week ahead. From a weather perspective, heavy rain swamped parts of the Canadian Prairies over the weekend. Forecasts show more showers around Monday and again later in the week. Steady periods of rain are becoming problematic for growers looking to advance seeding operations, traders said. The town of Emerson (south of Winnipeg along the Red River) declared a state of emergency after a deluge from a thunderstorm flooded basements and left some roads under metres of water. The downpour prompted provincial government officials to issue a serious overland flooding advisory for parts of southern Manitoba. The heavy rains fell on ground already sodden from storms last weekend. In Alberta, wet snow mixed with rain fell across much of the province, causing some rivers and streams in the southeast to swell and spill over their banks. Temperatures dipped to just a few degrees above freezing in central Saskatchewan as rain storms rolled through the area. As of 9:41 am EDT, there were no canola contracts traded. As of 9:41 am EDT, no western barley contracts had been traded. |
