04.07.2018 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (July 4): Malaysian palm oil futures declined on Wednesday evening in a second straight session of losses, as the contract tracked weakness in related edible oils.

The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.7% at RM2,298 (US$568.25) a tonne at the end of the trading day. It earlier fell to a one-week low of RM2,290.

Trading volumes stood at 35,039 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

"Palm oil on Bursa may extend downside in view of persistent weakness in soyoil on jitteriness over the US-China trade war," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur.

Another futures trader said palm was also tracking related oils on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, and that the market overall was bearish "over risks on the global market," referring to the trade wars as well.  

Soybean futures were anchored by an ongoing US-China trade dispute that pushed prices to the lowest close in two years on Monday.

The Chicago December soybean oil contract had declined 0.4% on Tuesday, and is closed for a public holiday on Wednesday.  

In other related oils, the September soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.3% and the Dalian September palm oil contract dropped 1.1%.

Palm oil prices track the performance of other edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil may test a support at RM2,290 per tonne, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at RM2,270, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.    

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1109 GMT

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in US 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 US dollars per barrel

(US$1 = RM4.0440)
(US$1 = 68.7400 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.6315 Chinese yuan)