KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures dropped for a second straight session on Monday due to slow-moving demand amid higher production, although a weaker ringgit, higher crude oil prices and improving exports limited falls.
The February benchmark palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had fallen 1.8 percent to 2,301 ringgit ($525.22) a tonne by the end of the trading session.
"There's external weakness to the market, production is still high and demand is slow moving," said a trader based in Kuala Lumpur.
"This is despite a weak ringgit and better export numbers."
Export data from cargo surveyors showed gains of 2-4 percent for the first 15 days of November compared with a month before.
Palm usually finds support from a weaker ringgit, the currency it is traded in, as this makes the vegetable oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies. The ringgit lost 0.3 percent against the dollar on Monday.
Crude oil futures rose as France launched large-scale air strikes against
Islamic State in Syria. Palm oil normally takes price direction from crude oil,
as vegetable oils are increasingly used in making renewable fuels.
Traded volume stood at 66,867 lots of 25 tonnes each, more than the average
35,000 lots usually traded in a day.
Palm oil may retest support at 2,219 ringgit per tonne, as indicated by its
wave pattern and a Fibonacci projection analysis, said Wang Tao, a Reuters
market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. December soyoil contract
lost 0.4 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian
Commodity Exchange fell 0.5 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1004 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL DEC5 2130 -53.00 2121 2180 989
MY PALM OIL JAN6 2222 -67.00 2213 2289 20483
MY PALM OIL FEB6 2301 -43.00 2287 2344 24128
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4140 -36.00 4130 4166 523224
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5450 -26.00 5426 5488 398416
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 26.94 -5.30 26.91 27.19 4755
INDIA PALM OIL NOV5 386.20 -5.30 384.80 390.80 915
INDIA SOYOIL NOV5 593.65 -9.60 592.70 600.00 10650
NYMEX CRUDE DEC5 41.14 +0.40 40.58 41.20 30768
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 = 4.3810 ringgit)
($1 = 65.9800 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.3700 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters
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