By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Jan. 6, 2014
Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts posted small gains for most of Monday’s trading session, but settled near unchanged as conflicting factors provided little direction for the lightly traded market.
Positioning ahead of the USDA’s monthly supply/demand report on Friday and Thursday’s weekly US export report accounted for some of the speculative short-covering in soybeans, and that buying interest helped underpin the canola market for most of the day as well, according to a broker.
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Canola remains cheap compared to soybeans, and the oversold price sentiment contributed to the firmer tone in the futures. However, recent losses in soybeans have already allowed canola to gain back about C$30 per tonne over the past week, which tempered the upside potential in the Canadian market.
Losses in CBOT soyoil and Malaysian palm oil also put some pressure on canola, according to participants, as did Canada’s record large crop and the ongoing logistics issues moving those supplies.
About 6,624 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 11,522 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,564 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum and barley futures were untraded after wheat saw some price revisions following Friday’s close.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
