By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
August 1, 2013
Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were holding onto small gains at 10:38 CDT Thursday, as weakness in the Canadian dollar helped crush margins improve and made exports more attractive.
The Canadian currency was down by about half a cent relative to its US counterpart at midsession, helping canola move higher despite the softer tone in CBOT soybeans. Fresh end user demand along with speculative short-covering accounted for some of the buying interest, according to a broker.
Concerns over cold temperatures across parts of western Canada were also underpinning the canola market, said the broker. However, crop conditions do remain relatively favourable overall, and the mounting expectations for a large crop this year did temper the upside potential.
The technical trend also remains pointed lower, making any advances good selling opportunities from a chart standpoint, said analysts.
At 10:38 CDT, about 9,000 canola contracts had changed hands.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were untraded and unchanged.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:38 CDT:
