MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Slips on Profit-taking, But Posts Biggest Weekly Gain in 4
VEGOILS-Palm Slips on Profit-taking, But Posts Biggest Weekly Gain in 4
25/01/2014 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended lower on Friday as investors booked profits from a near three-week high touched in the previous session, while a slightly stronger ringgit stemmed buying interest.
Benchmark prices, however, posted their biggest weekly gain in four weeks, lifted by a weak local currency that had made the ringgit-priced feedstock cheaper for overseas buyers and refiners.
"Recently prices hit 2,600 ringgit on the back of weakness in the currency. A lot of traders felt prices had hit the top of the trading range, so they are booking profits," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.
The Malaysian ringgit was trading at 3.3300 against the U.S. dollar late Friday after tumbling 1.64 percent so far this year.
The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had edged down 0.5 percent to 2,590 ringgit ($778) per tonne by Friday's close. Prices on Thursday had touched 2,604 ringgit, their highest since Jan. 6.
Total traded volume stood at 25,923 lots of 25 tonnes, lower than the usual 35,000 lots.
Sluggish exports for most of January have raised worries that Malaysian stocks will remain elevated at their currentlevels of 1.99 million tonnes and weigh on prices.
Market players will be watching for data on Malaysia's palm oil shipments in the Jan. 1-25 period, which will be released on Saturday and Monday, to gauge global food and fuel demand for the tropical oil.
"Exports will have to improve, otherwise things will be bleak. People are talking about exports of 1.35 million tonnes (for January). With these kind of levels, stocks will probably remain the
But estimates for seasonally slowing output in the world's second-largest producer could help curb the potential rise in inventories.
Traders said the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), a group of planters, forecast that the country's palm oil output in the first twenty days of January fell nearly 11 percent as yields from top palm-producing state Sabah weakened.
In other markets, global oil prices held above $107 a barrel on Friday, as bitter cold in the United States sapped stockpiles of crude and distillates in the world's largest consumer of oil.
In other competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for March dipped 0.3 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange fell 0.8 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1009 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL FEB4 2575 -11.00 2570 2581 363
MY PALM OIL MAR4 2584 -10.00 2574 2592 2613
MY PALM OIL APR4 2590 -12.00 2582 2601 11284
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 5842 -4.00 5830 5884 316818
CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 6606 -54.00 6606 6666 381828
CBOT SOY OIL MAR4 37.75 -0.11 37.69 37.98 5715
NYMEX CRUDE MAR4 97.12 -0.20 97.03 97.80 13836
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 = 3.33 Malaysian ringgit)
Benchmark prices, however, posted their biggest weekly gain in four weeks, lifted by a weak local currency that had made the ringgit-priced feedstock cheaper for overseas buyers and refiners.
"Recently prices hit 2,600 ringgit on the back of weakness in the currency. A lot of traders felt prices had hit the top of the trading range, so they are booking profits," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.
The Malaysian ringgit was trading at 3.3300 against the U.S. dollar late Friday after tumbling 1.64 percent so far this year.
The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had edged down 0.5 percent to 2,590 ringgit ($778) per tonne by Friday's close. Prices on Thursday had touched 2,604 ringgit, their highest since Jan. 6.
Total traded volume stood at 25,923 lots of 25 tonnes, lower than the usual 35,000 lots.
Sluggish exports for most of January have raised worries that Malaysian stocks will remain elevated at their currentlevels of 1.99 million tonnes and weigh on prices.
Market players will be watching for data on Malaysia's palm oil shipments in the Jan. 1-25 period, which will be released on Saturday and Monday, to gauge global food and fuel demand for the tropical oil.
"Exports will have to improve, otherwise things will be bleak. People are talking about exports of 1.35 million tonnes (for January). With these kind of levels, stocks will probably remain the
But estimates for seasonally slowing output in the world's second-largest producer could help curb the potential rise in inventories.
Traders said the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), a group of planters, forecast that the country's palm oil output in the first twenty days of January fell nearly 11 percent as yields from top palm-producing state Sabah weakened.
In other markets, global oil prices held above $107 a barrel on Friday, as bitter cold in the United States sapped stockpiles of crude and distillates in the world's largest consumer of oil.
In other competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for March dipped 0.3 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange fell 0.8 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1009 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL FEB4 2575 -11.00 2570 2581 363
MY PALM OIL MAR4 2584 -10.00 2574 2592 2613
MY PALM OIL APR4 2590 -12.00 2582 2601 11284
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 5842 -4.00 5830 5884 316818
CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 6606 -54.00 6606 6666 381828
CBOT SOY OIL MAR4 37.75 -0.11 37.69 37.98 5715
NYMEX CRUDE MAR4 97.12 -0.20 97.03 97.80 13836
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 = 3.33 Malaysian ringgit)