MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Oil Ends Flat; Investors Stay Cautious
VEGOILS-Palm Oil Ends Flat; Investors Stay Cautious
17/04/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended flat on Tuesday, as a recent commodities rout that dented investors' appetite for riskier assets offset earlier gains on bargain hunting.
Gold fell to its lowest in more than two years and Brent crude dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time since July as a shaky global economic outlook drove investors to liquidate assets, extending a sell-off in commodities into a third day.
The weak sentiment spread to the vegetable oil markets, with palm oil falling to a low of 2,281 ringgit per tonne on Monday -- its weakest since December, and the most active Dalian soybean oil contract tumbling to the lowest since its initiation.
"The market is quiet today due to uncertain factors in the external markets. Prices look to be supported at the 2,250 ringgit level and face resistance at 2,320 ringgit," said a trader with foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
The new benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended flat at 2,301 ringgit ($757) per tonne.
Total traded volumes stood at 40,241 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the average 35,000 lots.
Technical analysis showed a bearish target at 2,249 ringgit per tonne remained unchanged for Malaysian palm oil, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.
Malaysian palm oil shipments for the first half of the month fell by 4 percent from a month ago, said one cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, while another surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a steeper 7.2 percent drop.
Market participants will be keeping a close watch on the next export data for the April 1 to 20 period to gauge stocks level. A 10 percent increase in shipments in March helped ease inventory level to 2.17 million tonnes, the lowest in seven months.
In other markets, Brent crude sank below $100 a barrel for the first time in nine months on Tuesday in a broad commodities rout after recent weak data from China and the United States spurred worries about oil demand.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for May delivery gained 0.8 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange recouped some losses after falling as much as 2.4 percent earlier.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1006 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL MAY3 2285 +5.00 2260 2289 369
MY PALM OIL JUN3 2297 +4.00 2278 2307 10448
MY PALM OIL JUL3 2301 +0.00 2285 2313 21367
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3 6148 -42.00 6034 6162 623680
CHINA SOYOIL SEP3 7660 -46.00 7522 7664 776838
CBOT SOY OIL MAY3 48.53 +0.35 48.00 48.71 6787
NYMEX CRUDE MAY3 88.28 -0.43 86.06 88.67 63948
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
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1=3.039 ringgit)
Gold fell to its lowest in more than two years and Brent crude dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time since July as a shaky global economic outlook drove investors to liquidate assets, extending a sell-off in commodities into a third day.
The weak sentiment spread to the vegetable oil markets, with palm oil falling to a low of 2,281 ringgit per tonne on Monday -- its weakest since December, and the most active Dalian soybean oil contract tumbling to the lowest since its initiation.
"The market is quiet today due to uncertain factors in the external markets. Prices look to be supported at the 2,250 ringgit level and face resistance at 2,320 ringgit," said a trader with foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
The new benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended flat at 2,301 ringgit ($757) per tonne.
Total traded volumes stood at 40,241 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the average 35,000 lots.
Technical analysis showed a bearish target at 2,249 ringgit per tonne remained unchanged for Malaysian palm oil, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.
Malaysian palm oil shipments for the first half of the month fell by 4 percent from a month ago, said one cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, while another surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a steeper 7.2 percent drop.
Market participants will be keeping a close watch on the next export data for the April 1 to 20 period to gauge stocks level. A 10 percent increase in shipments in March helped ease inventory level to 2.17 million tonnes, the lowest in seven months.
In other markets, Brent crude sank below $100 a barrel for the first time in nine months on Tuesday in a broad commodities rout after recent weak data from China and the United States spurred worries about oil demand.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for May delivery gained 0.8 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange recouped some losses after falling as much as 2.4 percent earlier.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1006 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL MAY3 2285 +5.00 2260 2289 369
MY PALM OIL JUN3 2297 +4.00 2278 2307 10448
MY PALM OIL JUL3 2301 +0.00 2285 2313 21367
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3 6148 -42.00 6034 6162 623680
CHINA SOYOIL SEP3 7660 -46.00 7522 7664 776838
CBOT SOY OIL MAY3 48.53 +0.35 48.00 48.71 6787
NYMEX CRUDE MAY3 88.28 -0.43 86.06 88.67 63948
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
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1=3.039 ringgit)