06/12/2017 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 6): Malaysian palm oil futures edged up in early trade on Wednesday on support from a stable ringgit and a technical rebound, after a fall to a more than four-month low in the previous session.

Palm oil slid in its last two sessions due to a strengthening ringgit, which makes the tropical oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies and lowers demand.

The ringgit, whch rose to its highest since September 2016 against the dollar on Tuesday, was little changed in Wednesday's trade around noon. It was last up just 0.02% at 4.0650 ringgit to the dollar.   

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.2% at 2,568 ringgit (US$631.73) a tonne at the midday break, in line for a first gain in three days.

Palm, however, is down 1.3% so far this week, on track for a sixth week of losses.

Traded volumes stood at 10,991 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.

"Palm is up as the ringgit seems stable," said a Kuala Lumpur based trader, adding that overnight gains in soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade also provided support to palm.

Palm oil prices are affected by movements in other edible oils, as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

The January soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade added 0.2% in its previous session, but was last down 0.2% in trade on Wednesday.

In other related oils, the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.2%, while the Dalian January palm olein contract declined 0.4%.

 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0515 GMT

 Contract                        Month       Last     Change     Low      High      Volume

 MY PALM OIL               DEC7       2450         -6.00    2450     2460      65

 MY PALM OIL                JAN8       2532        +1.00    2524     2536     378

 MY PALM OIL                FEB8       2568        +5.00    2553     2572     4628

 CHINA PALM OLEIN     MAY8       5416       -10.00    5380     5436     238372

 CHINA SOYOIL             MAY8       5994       -16.00    5964     6012    198016

 CBOT SOY OIL             JAN8       33.44         -0.07    33.33     33.5    2516

 INDIA PALM OIL           DEC7      576.50       -1.80    575.80   579.5      68

 INDIA SOYOIL              DEC7          724        -2.00   723.4      725.8     310

 NYMEX CRUDE           JAN8        57.36        -0.26   57.31       57.48   15583

 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

(US$1 = 4.0650 ringgit)

(US$1 = 64.4250 Indian rupees)

(US$1 = 6.6129 Chinese yuan)