JAKARTA: Volatile Malaysian palm oil futures retreated from 11-month lows on Tuesday, finishing higher while tracking crude oil prices and as traders covered short positions.
By the close, the benchmark palm oil contract for October on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.3 percent at 2,060 ringgit ($534) a tonne.
"Bargain hunting and short-covering was seen at the new low levels," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.
Palm prices fell as far as 2,026 ringgit, their lowest since Sept. 11 last year, and have lost 3 percent so far this month.
Traded volume stood at 53,767 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 35,000 lots that usually trade in a single session.
An uncertain demand outlook, exacerbated by economic worries in top buyer China, had weighed on prices during most of Tuesday's session, with traders ignoring upside from a weak ringgit and the potential impact of dry weather spurred by El Nino.
In other vegetable oils, the U.S. August soyoil contract eased 0.5
percent in late Asian trade, while the most active soybean oil contract
on the Dalian Commodity Exchange added 0.1 percent.
Palm oil, used as cooking oil and to make a range of foodstuffs from instant
noodles to margarines, as well as an additive in biodiesel, typically tracks
soyoil, a common food and fuel substitute for palm.
Also helping turn palm positive, crude oil prices steadied at $50 a barrel
after a 5 percent drop and badly bruised commodity and Chinese markets were
calmer generally, as investors attempted to shake off recent turbulence.
Palm may fall into a range of 1,997-2,031 ringgit, driven by a powerful wave
C, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1021 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL AUG5 2056 +0.00 2039 2057 133
MY PALM OIL SEP5 2059 +3.00 2024 2074 4235
MY PALM OIL OCT5 2060 +6.00 2026 2073 25891
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4642 -58.00 4596 4666 714354
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5446 +6.00 5364 5452 533788
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 30.35 -0.40 30.11 30.43 7514
INDIA PALM OIL AUG5 407.90 -0.40 404.50 409.00 1487
INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 569.65 +1.20 565.60 570.50 23590
NYMEX CRUDE SEP5 45.96 +0.79 45.29 46.05 34911
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 = 3.8570 ringgit)
($1 = 63.7600 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.2086 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters
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