MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Slides for Sixth Day on External Market Weakness
VEGOILS-Palm Slides for Sixth Day on External Market Weakness
28/08/2015 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures declined for a sixth straight day towards six-and-a-half-year lows hit this week, as weakness in external markets sapped appetite for the edible oil and a weak ringgit offered little support.
By the midday break on Wednesday, the benchmark palm oil contract for November on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange was down 0.58 percent at 1,895 ringgit ($447.04) a tonne.
Traded volume stood at 21,907 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 13,500 lots usually traded by midday.
"Edible oil prices are weak," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur, referring to RBD palm oil and soy oil on China's Dalian Commodities Exchange. "I think external markets are overriding what is happening with the ringgit."
A weak Malaysian ringgit makes palm cheaper for offshore buyers. In dollar terms, Malaysian palm prices have fallen 30 percent since a year ago.
Palm oil has sunk 10 percent this month and was down more than 4 percent on Monday alone, as the tropical oil tracked other global markets lower on concerns about the Chinese economy. On Tuesday, palm oil fell to its lowest since March 2009.
Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, said he expects benchmark palm futures may break a resistance at 1,908 ringgit per tonne and rise more to the next resistance at 1,925 ringgit.
The ringgit, Asia's worst performer this year with losses exceeding 17 percent against the dollar, is at its lowest since before the government put a "floor" under it during the 1998 crisis, but Prime Minister Najib Razak has pledged not to peg the ringgit or implement capital controls.
In comparative vegetable oils, the U.S. September soyoil contract was down 1.04 percent in early Asian trade, while the most active soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.57 percent.
Crude oil futures held in a narrow band on Wednesday, not far off 6-1/2 year lows, after China's central bank moved to support the country's stumbling economy, while concerns about a supply glut capped gains.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0631 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL SEP5 1839 +10.00 1831 1839 70
MY PALM OIL OCT5 1867 -11.00 1854 1880 2062
MY PALM OIL NOV5 1895 -11.00 1883 1904 11989
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4152 -6.00 4116 4256 891854
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5268 -30.00 5224 5358 954344
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 26.87 -4.10 26.65 27.18 10020
INDIA PALM OIL AUG5 359.00 -4.10 358.80 361.80 169
INDIA SOYOIL OCT5 573.20 -1.80 572.30 575.30 12755
NYMEX CRUDE OCT5 39.61 +0.30 39.03 39.78 17054
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
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 66.2100 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.4100 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 4.2390 ringgit)
By the midday break on Wednesday, the benchmark palm oil contract for November on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange was down 0.58 percent at 1,895 ringgit ($447.04) a tonne.
Traded volume stood at 21,907 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 13,500 lots usually traded by midday.
"Edible oil prices are weak," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur, referring to RBD palm oil and soy oil on China's Dalian Commodities Exchange. "I think external markets are overriding what is happening with the ringgit."
A weak Malaysian ringgit makes palm cheaper for offshore buyers. In dollar terms, Malaysian palm prices have fallen 30 percent since a year ago.
Palm oil has sunk 10 percent this month and was down more than 4 percent on Monday alone, as the tropical oil tracked other global markets lower on concerns about the Chinese economy. On Tuesday, palm oil fell to its lowest since March 2009.
Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, said he expects benchmark palm futures may break a resistance at 1,908 ringgit per tonne and rise more to the next resistance at 1,925 ringgit.
The ringgit, Asia's worst performer this year with losses exceeding 17 percent against the dollar, is at its lowest since before the government put a "floor" under it during the 1998 crisis, but Prime Minister Najib Razak has pledged not to peg the ringgit or implement capital controls.
In comparative vegetable oils, the U.S. September soyoil contract was down 1.04 percent in early Asian trade, while the most active soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.57 percent.
Crude oil futures held in a narrow band on Wednesday, not far off 6-1/2 year lows, after China's central bank moved to support the country's stumbling economy, while concerns about a supply glut capped gains.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0631 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL SEP5 1839 +10.00 1831 1839 70
MY PALM OIL OCT5 1867 -11.00 1854 1880 2062
MY PALM OIL NOV5 1895 -11.00 1883 1904 11989
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4152 -6.00 4116 4256 891854
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5268 -30.00 5224 5358 954344
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 26.87 -4.10 26.65 27.18 10020
INDIA PALM OIL AUG5 359.00 -4.10 358.80 361.80 169
INDIA SOYOIL OCT5 573.20 -1.80 572.30 575.30 12755
NYMEX CRUDE OCT5 39.61 +0.30 39.03 39.78 17054
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
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 66.2100 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.4100 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 4.2390 ringgit)