WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--Rain and oilseed futures at the Winnipeg Commodity
Exchange closed Thursday's session mixed with canola modestly higher in step
with gains in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil futures, brokers said.

  Canola saw a light trade with intermonth spreading accounting for much of the
volume. Traders feel many participants were sidelined ahead of Friday's U.S.
Department of Agriculture supply-demand reports.

  The total canola volume was estimated at 5,177 contracts, down from
Wednesday's 6,233 contracts with an estimated 2,160 contracts involved in the
spread trade.

  Canola rallied on the gains in CBOT soyoil, the weakness in the Canadian
dollar and some export talk. Traders noted rumors of Chinese canola buying,
although exporters were unable to confirm any of the talk.

  Capping the gains were bearish technical signals, slow overall demand and
improving weather for planting the canola crop, analysts said. The weak tone in
CBOT soybeans also prompted some selling.

  Crushers were the best buyers with routine exporter pricing also noted. The
selling came from commercials and commodity funds as fund selling was estimated
at 300 to 400 July contracts.

  Feed grain futures ended steady to lower amid a lack of fresh news. The
market was pressured down by the losses in CBOT corn and sluggish demand.
Underpinning the market was the tightness of barley and wheat supplies revealed
in Wednesday's Statistics Canada March 31 grain stocks report, brokers said.

  Western barley edged down as an estimated 325 contracts changed hands, up
from Wednesday's 175 contracts.

  Feed wheat was little changed as an estimated 150 contracts traded, up from
90 contracts on Wednesday. The entire trade was comprised of the July/Oct
spread.


  Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton:

   Settlement   Change

  Prices


  Canola
   July      363.80       up 1.00
   Nov       381.70       up 0.70


  Feed Wheat
   July      158.00       unch
   Oct       163.00       unch


  Western barley
   July      178.00       dn 3.00
   Oct       137.50       dn 0.50


  Canola spread trade prices are in Can dollars and the volume represents the
number of spreads

Months        Price              Volume

May/Jly        8.90                 497
Jly/Nov    17.90-18.40              560
Nov/Jan     8.60-8.90                 7
Nov/Mar    14.90-15.10               15
Nov/May       20.60                   1