Malaysian palm oil falls on bearish data outlook

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a third day on Thursday as a bearish outlook on key data that will be released next week and a stabilising ringgit dampened market sentiment.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is set to release September palm oil data next Monday. Local output and stockpile levels are expected to reach record highs, which could further hurt palm prices.

The benchmark December palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange lost 1.8 percent to hit 2-1/2 week lows of 2,253 ringgit ($532.25) a tonne before closing at 2,276 ringgit.

It hit a near 15-month high of 2,444 ringgit on Tuesday.

"The ringgit is stabilising though it weakened a bit ... Next week the Malaysian Palm Oil Board figures are coming out, and the anticipation is bearish," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

"The market rally in the last two weeks on a weak ringgit and comments from the conference in India has died down already, so the market is normalising back to square one."

Traded volume stood at 61,569 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the average 35,000 lots traded in a day.

The Malaysian ringgit jumped 5 percent against the dollar on Wednesday due to a better performing local stock index, stronger-than-expected August exports and a rebound in global crude oil prices.

It weakened 0.4 percent to 4.2330 against the dollar on Thursday.

Palm oil is expected to fall to 2,234 ringgit per tonne, as it has broken a support at 2,283 ringgit, according to Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.

In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. December soyoil contract was down 1 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was 0.8 percent higher.

($1 = 4.2330 ringgit) ($1 = 65.0725 Indian rupees) ($1 = 6.3529 Chinese yuan) - Reuters