Winnipeg (Resource News International) — Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) grain and oilseed
futures closed Thursday’s session mainly lower with canola down on the weak tone in
Chicago Board of Trade soybean markets, traders said.
Canola saw a moderate trade with small levels of intermonth spreading. The total
estimated canola volume was 9,594 contracts, down from Wednesday’s 9,775 contracts.
Canola options saw a moderate trade as 492 November 400 puts traded at $5.
Speculative buying of the spread met commercial selling.
Canola futures declined moderately early on the weak tone in CBOT soy complex
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Feed grains weekly: Prices bump up
To Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, there are two main reasons for recent increases for feed barley and wheat. Haley said on March 12 that there’s an ongoing lack of farmer selling, plus stiff competition from the grain companies looking to export barley.
demand contributed to the decline. Friendly technical signals prompted continued
speculative buying which helped to pull the market off its lows. However, late liquidation
selling sent canola to moderate losses in the last few minutes of the session.
The lack of selling pressure gave some support helping to pull canola back to
almost unchanged before its late drop. Farmer selling slowed as prices fell but increased
when prices returned to almost unchanged about midday.
Crushers were the best buyers with routine exporter pricing noted. Commodity
funds were buyers with traders estimating their buying at 500 to 1,000 November contracts.
The selling comprised mainly of long liquidation with profit-taking noted by both
accelerate as the canola market recovered from its lows.
Feed grain futures posted losses in step with weakness in CBOT grain futures.
Western barley declined as the lack of demand contributed to the weakness,
although sluggish country movement limited the decline. An estimated 204 contracts
changed hands, down from 2,131 contracts on Wednesday. There was light activity in the
October/December spread.
Feed wheat saw small losses in very small volumes with the bulk of the activity
comprised of October/December spreading. The total volume was estimated at 57 contracts, down
from Wednesday’s 441 contracts.
