JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil reversed earlier losses to end flat on Thursday tracking other vegetable oils while a weak ringgit and concerns over an El Nino weather pattern provided support.
The September palm oil contract on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended unchanged at 2,267 ringgit
($600) a tonne after trading in a 2,245-2,278 ringgit band.
Palm prices were 0.5 percent lower on the week and remain
near a one-month low last touched on June 22 at 2,218 ringgit.
"The market is range-trading," said a palm trader with a
foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. "Bean oil up, we
follow. Bean oil down, we follow."
"The ringgit weakens further. It's just following outside
sentiment," he said, adding that concerns remained about
Greece's debt default and its potential impact on European palm
buying.
The Malaysian ringgit traded near 10-year lows,
which is providing support as it makes benchmark palm cheaper
for overseas buyers.
Total traded volume for palm by the midday break was 49,772
lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with the usual 35,000 lots.
Palm had posted its first positive day this week on
Wednesday after a bullish U.S. agriculture department report
boosted sentiment.
Palm oil is biased to rise to resistance at 2,293 ringgit
per tonne, as it seems to have stabilised around support at
2,216 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other vegetable oils, the U.S. July soyoil contract
was little changed, while the most active January
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
was 0.3 percent lower.
Weather bureaus are confirming the return of an El Nino
weather pattern this year, which can lead to scorching weather
across Asia.
"It's a yo-yo market," said a second Malaysia-based palm
trader. "Crude oil dropped sharply, although the ringgit is
weakening."
Oil prices steadied after a day of steep losses driven by
an unexpected build in U.S. crude stocks that added to a global
supply glut.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1036 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUL5 2260 -3.00 2260 2260 56
MY PALM OIL AUG5 2264 -3.00 2245 2274 2812
MY PALM OIL SEP5 2267 +0.00 2245 2278 21995
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 5114 +10.00 5058 5154 618268
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5812 -16.00 5760 5870 528954
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 33.53 +1.60 33.34 33.69 5885
INDIA PALM OIL JUL5 446.40 +1.60 444.30 447.30 734
INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 586.20 +1.60 582.80 586.90 36875
NYMEX CRUDE AUG5 57.12 +0.16 56.80 57.25 29315
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 3.7765 ringgit)
($1 = 6.2044 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 63.5200 Indian rupees)
- Reuters
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
