03.06.2021 (www.todayonline.com) - KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 - Malaysian palm oil futures soared as much as 4% on Thursday to a two-week high, following a rally in global agricultural markets as adverse weather in the United States reignited supply concerns.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 132 ringgit, or 3.23%, to 4,223 ringgit ($1,024.50) a tonne by 0301 GMT, its highest since May 20.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Refinitiv Commodities Research on Wednesday lowered its estimates for Malaysia's 2020/21 palm oil production by 1% to 18.8 million tonnes, partly due to wet weather conditions last month.

* Hot and dry weather in parts of the U.S. Midwest is causing concerns over yields of newly planted corn and soybean crops, following a severe drought in Brazil.

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract rose 3.9%, while its palm oil contract gained 5.4%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.6% to a 10-year high.

* 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 break a resistance at 4,132 ringgit per tonne and rise towards 4,282 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian shares were a touch below a recent three-month top on Thursday with China a tad weaker as investors weighed inflation concerns ahead of key U.S. economic data while oil prices rose to near 1-1/2 year highs.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0145 China Caixin Services PMI May

0600 UK Reserve Assets Total May

0750 France Markit Serv, Comp PMIs May

0755 Germany Markit Services PMI May

0755 Germany Markit Comp Final PMI May

0800 EU Markit Serv, Comp Final PMIs May

0830 UK Markit/CIPS Serv PMI Final May

1230 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly

1345 US Markit Serv, Comp Final PMIs May

1400 US ISM N-Mfg PMI May

($1 = 4.1210 ringgit) REUTERS