Monday, December 10, 2001(The Star) - CRUDE palm oil futures prices on theMalaysian Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) turned volatile and trended in abullish fashion last week as speculative short positions holder scrambledaggressively to covering their positions when the market broke upward fromits downward trend.The firmer prices in both the cash crude palm oil and product marketsprompted fresh hedge-buying and short-term buying interests.The February futures advanced from a week’s low of RM1,125 to RM1,200 andfinished the week sharply higher at RM1,169, up RM74 per tonne frompreviously.Based on chart, the February futures ended the week bullish and formed achart triple-top formation. From a technical point of view, the Februaryfutures are expected to remain buoyant in the coming sessions.An immediate chart resistance is seen for this week at the RM1,180-RM1,190levels, and a successful vault above this triple-top resistance wouldtrigger off another aggressive wave of technical covering and set themarket on a bullish course.Measurement of the chart-breakout target suggests that the next upwardmomentum could take prices to the RM1,250-RM1,265 levels. Chart supportfor this week stands at the RM1,150-RM1,140 levels. Violation of thesesupports would signal an end to the bullish trend.Technically, the daily stochastics ended the week bearish and indicatedthat the market is toppish or top-heavy. The daily stochastics sell-signalwas triggered during Friday’s close. The oscillator per cent K closed theweek below the oscillator per cent D and settled higher at 73.24% and75.33% respectively.The 12-day exponentially smoothed average price-line (ESA-line) remainedin uptrend and ended the week sharply higher at RM1,145. Closing pricesabove the ESA-line on Friday showed that the market’s immediate cycle isstill bullish.The moving-average convergence/divergence (MACD) turned positive last weekand closed on a positive note. The MACD ended above the trigger-line andsettled higher at 32.94 and 32.60 points respectively.The Momentum Index (MI) penetrated the 100-point mark last week andindicated that a bullish cycle is in place. The MI closed the week higherat 102.30 points.