ICE Canola Mixed, Nearbys Down On CBOT Soy Losses

Position-evening ahead of the long holiday weekend in Canada was also a feature.

ICE Futures Canada and ICE Clear Canada will be closed for trading and clearing operations on Monday, May 18, 2009. The Toronto Stock Exchange and all other Canadian financial institutions will be closed for the Victoria Day holiday.

Some of the early selling in the two nearby months also reflected the declines posted overnight in Malaysian palm oil, brokers said.

Sentiment that the nearby contracts were overbought and in need of a minor downward correction also weighed on values, traders said.

Underlying support in canola, however, continues to stem from strong demand from both the domestic and export sectors. the absence of significant farmer deliveries into the cash market were also helping to generate a firm price floor.

Adding to the strength in canola were supportive chart signals and some light speculative fund demand, traders said.

New crop contracts were being underpinned by concerns over the weather for seeding operations. There have been delays in planting canola due to the unseasonably cool temperatures across much of western Canada and outlooks calling for those cold readings to continue over the next week or so, brokers said.

There were an estimated 13,582 canola contracts traded at 11:12 CDT.

At 11:12 CDT, 80 western barley future had changed hands.

Weakness in the nearby contracts reflected the absence of fresh end-user demand with burdensome supplies also an undermining price influence, traders said. Losses in CBOT corn futures also encouraged some light selling. Activity was a light two way commercial affair.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 11:12 am CDT: