ICE Canola Lifted By US Soy

Canola saw a light to moderate trade with intermonth spreading a minor feature of the activity.

The total canola volume was estimated at 9,839 contracts, down from Wednesday’s 15,574 contracts, including an estimated 3,250 contracts involved in the intermonth spread trade.

Canola was higher in the overnight market, reflecting firmness in international vegetable oil and oilseed markets. Canola extended its gains as the North American trading session opened and the CBOT soy complex posted strong advances.
Canola ended the day with small gains.

Canola drew added support from friendly technical signals and the gains in crude oil. However restraining the advance was the very strong Canadian dollar as it hit a 3 month high against the US dollar Thursday.
The firm dollar slowed fresh export bookings, traders said. Also weighing on the market was increased farmer selling as cash bids hit the C$10.00/bu level at many points in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Traders also noted that canola has reached significant resistance points on the charts and that many commercial buyers have backed away to see if the market can convincingly penetrate those levels.

Crushers were the best buyers today with only routine export buying noted. The selling was mainly commercial with increased elevator company selling noted, prompted by the rising farmer selling. Speculators were generally sidelined.

Western barley posted small gains in very dull commercial trade. The lack of interest in the market allowed very small buying interest to take prices up with farmer selling well above the market, brokers said.

The total barley volume was estimated at 75 contracts, down from 275 contracts on Wednesday.

Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton: