The palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 0.82 percent to 2,568 ringgit a tonne, its highest since May 19, 2014, before settling down 0.6 percent 2,531 ringgit ($610.62) per tonne. Traded volume stood at 48,968 lots of 25 tonnes each.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ended lower on Thursday and snapped two sessions of gains after hitting a 20-month high earlier in the session, on the back of a stronger ringgit and weaker export demand.
The palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 0.82 percent to 2,568 ringgit a tonne, its highest since May 19, 2014, before settling down 0.6 percent 2,531 ringgit ($610.62) per tonne.
Traded volume stood at 48,968 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"The ringgit is firmer, and there are expectations of a bumper crop in Brazil," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to soybean output in the South American country.
An oversupply of soybeans from South America would send
soyoil prices lower, narrowing its spread with palm oil. A
discount would help soyoil grab market share from palm oil in
top consumers China and India, who favour importing soybeans to
crush for domestic consumption.
Exports of palm oil products have been falling, with cargo
surveyor data showing an almost 10 percent drop in January
shipments from Malaysia compared with the previous month.
The ringgit rebounded 1.8 percent to 4.1450 against
the dollar. A stronger ringgit makes palm oil costlier for
holders of foreign currencies.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. March soyoil
contract gained 0.6 percent, while the May soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.9
percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1015 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL FEB6 2455 +1.00 2449 2485 365
MY PALM OIL MAR6 2490 -15.00 2478 2525 2366
MY PALM OIL APR6 2531 -16.00 2517 2568 26325
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY6 4792 +30.00 4764 4814 554480
CHINA SOYOIL MAY6 5682 +48.00 5626 5692 377912
CBOT SOY OIL MAR6 31.15 +1.10 30.90 31.28 6824
INDIA PALM OIL FEB6 460.20 +1.10 457.00 468.90 2628
INDIA SOYOIL FEB6 618.60 -0.75 616.40 621.50 27790
NYMEX CRUDE MAR6 32.52 +0.24 32.30 32.96 64761
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 = 4.1450 ringgit)
($1 = 67.6700 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.5766 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters
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