KUALA LUMPUR: The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to see profit-taking this week, with the price seen moving between RM3,400 and RM3,650 per tonne.
“I reckon buyers would have already secured their stocks early, especially those from India, before leaving for the long holiday break.
“Speculators will also be taking a break during the festive season, hence the profit-taking and a quieter market this week,” Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh told Bernama.
The market will be closed today for Deepavali with operations to resume tomorrow.
For the week just ended, the local market traded mostly lower, dampened by the low buying interest and weak market sentiment due to concerns over rising production, coupled with weakness in the crude oil market.
Last Friday, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said the country’s palm oil stocks at the end of October rose 5.84% from the previous month to 2.45 million tonnes.
Crude palm oil production gained 5.89% month-on-month to 1.94 million tonnes in October, while palm oil exports increased to 1.47 million tonnes.
On a weekly basis, the November 2023 contract added RM41 to RM3,673 per tonne, December 2023 gained RM20 to RM3,737 and January 2024 rose RM34 to RM3,802.
The February 2024 note bagged RM40 to RM3,839 per tonne while March 2024 went up RM50 to RM3,855 and April 2024 gained RM56 to RM3,852.
The total weekly volume improved to 248,880 lots from 163,201 lots in the preceding week while open interest was slightly higher at 215,538 contracts from 215,228 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for November South gained RM21 to RM3,700 per tonne from RM3,679 in the previous week.
