ICE canola dips, snaps 4-day winning streak

WINNIPEG: ICE Canada canola futures eased on Thursday in a directionless session marked by caution ahead of a key speech by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday.

* Canola underpinned by smaller-than-expected production estimate on Wednesday from Statistics Canada.

* Harvest pressure seen building in coming days. Five percent of Saskatchewan canola has been combined, 35 percent swathed or ready to straight-cut.

* Weaker soybeans and soyoil modestly weighed down canola.

* November canola futures lost 20 cents at $561.90 per tonne on volume of 9,358 contracts.

* January canola lost 30 cents at $570.50 on volume of 4,101 contracts.

* November-January spread traded 3,198 times, settling at a January premium of $8.60.

* Chicago September soybeans dipped 1/2 US cent to US$13.86 per bushel. September soyoil lost 0.18 cent to 55.60 US cents per lb.

* MATIF November rapeseed settled higher.

* The Canadian dollar was trading at 0.9864 or US1.0138 at 1:16 p.m. CDT (1816 GMT), little changed from Wednesday's close at $0.9866 to the US dollar, or US$1.0136.

* NYMEX crude oil settled up 0.2 percent at US$85.30 per barrel, eyeing Hurricane Irene.

Copyright Reuters, 2011