ICE Canada canola futures closed higher on Thursday, snapping a 5-day losing streak, with routine exporter and speculator buying ahead of the market's closure for the holidays, traders said. Key March canola touched a 5-week low of $399.50 early before settling above the psychologically important $400 level.
ICE Canada exchange closed for trading until Monday evening for trading date December 29. Snow on the Prairies along with Christmas holidays slowing farmer selling and taking off hedge pressure. March canola rose $2.50 to settle at $403.60 per tonne on a volume of 6,882 contracts.
Front-month January canola settled up $2.80 at $398.70 per tonne with a volume of 1,680 contracts. The January-March spread traded 1,388 times with a premium on March between $3.60 and $5.90. Canola's direction on Tuesday depends on how soy futures trade Monday, a trader said. CBOT January soybean futures settled down 1-3/4 US cents at US $9.99-1/2 per bushel.
The Canadian dollar was trading at $1.0500 against the US currency or 95.24 US cents at 12:06 pm CST (1806 GMT), down from Wednesday's close of $1.0484 against the US dollar or 95.38 US cents. Light crude oil, which usually influences canola because of its use in biofuel, was up 63 US cents at US $77.30 per barrel.