Today Online (16/11/2020) - KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 - Malaysian palm oil futures edged higher on Monday, tracking gains in rival Dalian oils, although reports of top buyer India cutting imports due to a rise in the price of the commodity limited gains.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.58% to 3,318 ringgit ($806.71) a tonne during early trade.

Palm rose 6.3% last week, its fourth straight weekly gain, on concerns over lower production estimates for this month.

Investors are now waiting for Nov. 1-15 export data by cargo surveyors due later in the day.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Indian edible oil refiners are trimming imports of palm oil to make space for soyoil as a rally in the price of palm due to output worries reduced the spread between the two, industry officials told Reuters.

* India's palm oil imports in the marketing year to October fell 23.3% to 7.22 million tonnes, a leading trade body said on Friday, due to sluggish demand from hotels and restaurants which bore the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic.

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract gained 1.6%, while its palm oil contract rose 0.5%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.2%.

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

* Oil prices edged up on Monday, recouping some losses from the previous session as hopes that OPEC+ will continue to curb output offset concerns of weaker fuel demand amid rising COVID-19 cases and higher production from Libya.

* Palm oil may retest a support at 3,348 ringgit per tonne, a break below which could cause a fall into 3,261-3,300 ringgit range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian stocks hit a record high on Monday as vaccine optimism and strong economic data from China and Japan outshone worries about rising coronavirus cases, lifting just about every sector.

DATA/EVENTS

0200 China Urban Investment (YTD) YY Oct

0200 China Industrial Output YY Oct

0200 China Retail Sales YY Oct

0630 India WPI Inflation YY Oct

1100 EU Reserve Assets Total Oct

Key banking/govt official to speak at the 23rd Euro Finance Week conference in Frankfurt

($1 = 4.1160 ringgit) REUTERS

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