WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--Grain and oilseed futures at the ICE Canada Futures
market were higher at 9:44 a.m. EDT Thursday with canola lifted by strength in
overnight international vegetable oil prices, traders said.

  Canola saw a light trade with an estimated 1,042 contracts traded as of 9:45
a.m. EDT.

  Canola saw gains in the overnight market, rallying with the advances in
Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed. A more buoyant tone in outside
markets Thursday morning contributed to gains, traders said. Canola was
expected to hold moderate gains as the North American trading session gets
underway and the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex posts advances.

  Canola will also draw support from slow farmer selling, although cash dealers
indicate that the recent rally has attracted farmers' attention and they have
been receiving "more calls than usual" about doing some selling. Solid
commercial demand from both the export and crush sector is also positive.

  Frost talk continues to linger in the market, particularly for Alberta where
lows in the Peace River District on Friday night are forecast to be 3 degrees
Celsius.  The Edmonton area is expected to single digit lows on the weekend,
likely as low as 3 degrees C west of Edmonton. That concern is helping to
underpin the market.

  Technical signals are friendly with technicians noting that there is no
significant resistance in the market until the C$460 in the Nov contract.

  Capping the gains will be the firm Canadian dollar and favourable growing
conditions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, brokers said.

  Commercials have dominated the early trade but analysts expect to see
speculative buying today with more commodity fund buying likely in Nov.

  Western barley is untraded and unchanged. However the market is expected to
be firm on the lack of farmer selling. Demand is likely to be lacklustre, say
traders, noting that feed lot numbers are down 10%-20% and that total cow herd
numbers are expected to fall to 9 year lows in Canada, according to Canfax a
division of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.


  Prices at 9:46 a.m. EDT in Canadian dollars per metric ton:

   Prices         Change

  Canola
   Nov       450.80    up 5.30
   Jan       455.10    up 5.00
   Mar       453.50    unch

  Western Barley
   Oct       140.50    unch
   Nov       163.50    unch