ICE canola mostly slips after extending highs

WINNIPEG: ICE Canada canola future mostly eased on Thursday after setting a new more-than-three-month high earlier, following US grains lower in volatile trading after a US Department of Agriculture crop report.

* Record world wheat stocks offset S.America drought.

* Technical strength seen limiting canola's losses.

* March canola touched $537.20, the highest price on a continuous chart for a nearby contract since Oct. 27.

* March canola settled flat at $534.20 a tonne on volume of 9,551 contracts.

* May dipped 30 cents at $537.50 on volume of 8,533 contracts.

* March-May spread traded 3,737 times, settling at a May premium of $3.30.

* Chicago March soybeans lost 4 US cents to close at US$12.27-1/2 per bushel. March soyoil eased 0.04 cent to 52.54 US cents per lb.

* MATIF May rapeseed gained 0.4 percent.

* The Canadian dollar was trading at $0.9944 against the US dollar or US$1.0056 at 1:06 p.m. CST (1906 GMT), up from Wednesday's close at $0.9961 to the US dollar, or $1.0039.

* US crude oil futures rose 1.1 percent to US$99.84 per barrel.