MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Oil Traders Book Profits After Crude Slump
VEGOILS-Palm Oil Traders Book Profits After Crude Slump
05/11/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures traded lower for the first time in six sessions on Monday, weighed by weak crude prices and as traders booked profits after big gains last week.
By the midday break, the benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.3 percent at 2,594 Malaysian ringgit ($820) per tonne.
Total traded volume stood at 19,699 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 12,500 lots.
"The market was on the high side," said a trader with a foreign brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "The retracement is a bit of profit taking. It is still bullish but factored into prices, and we have negative external factors like crude oil."
The market could find support around 2,570 ringgit, the trader said, adding that investors were also positioning themselves ahead of the Islamic New Year holiday on Tuesday.
Benchmark prices rose 7.5 percent last week, their biggest weekly gain in more than four years, to touch 2,632 ringgit, their highest since Sept. 28, 2012.
Prices were aided last week by lower-than-expected production in Indonesia and Malaysia, due to wet weather and a lower production cycle compared to last year, traders said.
Technicals showed Malaysian palm oil is expected to retrace to 2,544 ringgit per tonne, as it has failed to break a resistance at 2,630 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other markets, Brent futures rose above $106 a barrel as investors locked in fresh positions after the previous session's steep fall, but prices are set to weaken amid expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will scale back its monetary stimulus.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for December rose 0.6 percent in early Asian trade. The most-active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange was up 0.7 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0618 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL NOV3 2610 -39.00 2606 2633 111
MY PALM OIL DEC3 2601 -34.00 2593 2627 437
MY PALM OIL JAN4 2594 -34.00 2584 2623 9195
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 6302 -18.00 6292 6372 569878
CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 7302 +52.00 7278 7328 854190
CBOT SOY OIL DEC3 41.85 +0.26 41.51 41.93 3772
NYMEX CRUDE DEC3 94.68 +0.07 94.45 94.73 4997
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 = 3.1725 Malaysian ringgit)
By the midday break, the benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.3 percent at 2,594 Malaysian ringgit ($820) per tonne.
Total traded volume stood at 19,699 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 12,500 lots.
"The market was on the high side," said a trader with a foreign brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "The retracement is a bit of profit taking. It is still bullish but factored into prices, and we have negative external factors like crude oil."
The market could find support around 2,570 ringgit, the trader said, adding that investors were also positioning themselves ahead of the Islamic New Year holiday on Tuesday.
Benchmark prices rose 7.5 percent last week, their biggest weekly gain in more than four years, to touch 2,632 ringgit, their highest since Sept. 28, 2012.
Prices were aided last week by lower-than-expected production in Indonesia and Malaysia, due to wet weather and a lower production cycle compared to last year, traders said.
Technicals showed Malaysian palm oil is expected to retrace to 2,544 ringgit per tonne, as it has failed to break a resistance at 2,630 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other markets, Brent futures rose above $106 a barrel as investors locked in fresh positions after the previous session's steep fall, but prices are set to weaken amid expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will scale back its monetary stimulus.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for December rose 0.6 percent in early Asian trade. The most-active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange was up 0.7 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0618 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL NOV3 2610 -39.00 2606 2633 111
MY PALM OIL DEC3 2601 -34.00 2593 2627 437
MY PALM OIL JAN4 2594 -34.00 2584 2623 9195
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 6302 -18.00 6292 6372 569878
CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 7302 +52.00 7278 7328 854190
CBOT SOY OIL DEC3 41.85 +0.26 41.51 41.93 3772
NYMEX CRUDE DEC3 94.68 +0.07 94.45 94.73 4997
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 = 3.1725 Malaysian ringgit)