05/05/2014 (Business Recorder) - Asking prices on the European vegetable oils market eased on Friday following a sharp dip in CBOT soyaoil futures, followed by a slide in Malaysian palm oil futures, both on technical selling. "Business was slow, partly because of the weaker prices, which kept buyers on the defence hoping that they will ease further. The market was also lacklustre because of limited participation as many players had bridged between May Day on Thursday and the weekend," one broker said.

At 1630 GMT CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.28 cents and 0.31 cents per lb up in a mild rebound following recent losses, with soyaoil dropping almost a cent on Thursday. Firmer mineral oil also underpinned soyaoil. Liquid oils -EU soyaoil, rapeoil and sunoil- were offered between 3 and 15 euros per tonne down from Wednesday following the trend in Chicago soyaoil on Thursday and because of technical selling in rapeseed futures, also tracking the trend in Chicago during the past few days.

Palm oil was offered between $2.50 and $10 a tonne down from Thursday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between 26 ringgit and 44 ringgit per tonne lower, in sympathy with rival soyaoil and because of concerns that Malaysian palm oil stocks could rise if output in April outpaces demand. Lauric oils were mostly offered between $5 and $10 a tonne down from Thursday in sympathy with easier palm oil. No trades were reported.