ICE Canada canola futures closed 1.1 percent lower on Friday as crude oil and soybean markets plunged, traders said. New-crop November canola fell $4.40 or 1.1 percent at $394.20 per tonne on volume of 8,306 contracts. January dropped $4.50 to settle at $398.40 with a volume of 1,136 contracts.
The November contract touched a fresh six-week low of $391.30, which suggests fund selling next week, a trader said. CBOT November soybeans finished 23-1/2 US cents lower at US $9.03 a bushel as the unwinding of soybean/corn spreads weigh on deferred soybeans.
Light crude oil was trading US $2.77, or almost 4 percent lower, at US $69.17 per barrel, at 1:15 pm CDT (18:15 GMT). The Canadian dollar was trading around $1.0770 against the US currency or 92.85 US cents, up from Thursday's close of $1.0783 against the US dollar or 92.74 cents. Farmers in Saskatchewan have swathed 47 percent of canola and combined 5 percent.
Freezing temperatures were reported in parts of Alberta Friday for the second time this week, but the forecast for the Prairies is favourable to harvesting. Canola yields are average to above-average with good quality in Manitoba, but lower than expected in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the Canola Council of Canada said on Thursday.