Today Online (25/06/2020) - KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 - Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a second straight session on Thursday, after crude prices plunged overnight and as investors awaited export data.

The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 37 ringgit, or 1.52%, to 2399 ringgit a tonne by 0243 GMT.

Cargo surveyors are expected to release June 1-25 export data later in the session.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Oil prices inched up in early trading after sliding more than 5% in the previous session on worries that a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases could choke a revival in fuel demand.

* Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

* Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, loses around 10%-20% of potential production annually due to worker shortages, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association said, as the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates a labour shortage.

* Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade slipped 0.46%. The Dalian Commodity Exchange was closed for public holiday.

* Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

* Palm oil may test a support at 2,408 ringgit per tonne, a break below which could cause a fall into a range of 2,294-2,365 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

MARKET NEWS

* Asia's stock markets slipped, bonds rose and the U.S. dollar was firm as surging U.S. coronavirus cases, global trade tensions and an International Monetary Fund downgrade to economic projections knocked confidence in a recovery.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0930 Bank of England publishes Financial Policy Summary and Record, giving an insight into its thinking about how the country's huge finance industry is coping with the COVID-19 fallout for the economy and how ready it is for the end of the UK's Brexit transition

1230 US Durable Goods May

1230 US GDP Final Q1

1230 US Initial Jobless Claims Weekly REUTERS

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