Malaysian palm oil price hits 8-week high, tracking stronger edible oils

The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 38 ringgit, or 1.8 percent, at 2,198 ringgit ($531.30) a tonne, after rising to its highest since Sept. 18 at 2,209 ringgit a tonne earlier in the session. Trading volumes stood at 44,514 lots of 25 tonnes each by the end of the session.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than 2 percent to an eight-week high on Wednesday evening, tracking gains in U.S. soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade and palm olein on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 2 percent at 2,198 ringgit ($526.21) a tonne at the close of trade.

Earlier, it climbed as much as 2.1 percent to 2,200 ringgit, its strongest levels since Oct. 24. 

Trading volumes stood at 63,580 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

"The market reacted towards strong soybean oil, which rose overnight," said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur.

Gains in palm olein on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange also lent support to the Malaysian market, said another futures trader.

The Chicago January soybean oil contract gained 0.9 percent on Tuesday after Chinese importers booked U.S. soybean shipments in the second wave of purchases since striking a trade war truce with Washington earlier this month.

It was last up 0.8 percent on Wednesday, holding steady on xpectations of continued large-scale Chinese purchases.

In other related oils, the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.8 percent, while the Dalian January palm oil contract rose 1.6 percent.

Palm oil prices are impacted by changes in soyoil prices, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market. - Reuters