24.01.2020 (Yahoo Singapore News) - JAKARTA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures extended declines into a second consecutive session on Friday, tracking overnight losses in soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade and as a stronger ringgit made the vegetable oil more expensive.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.8% to 2,903 ringgit per tonne in early trade. The contract has advanced 2.4% so far this week, recovering from the 9.5% slump in the previous week.

Cheaper soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade fell to a one-month low overnight as traders await Chinese buying, which weighed on prices, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader told Reuters.

Palm oil is generally affected by price movements in related oils as its competes for a share in the global vegetable oil market. Also dragging prices lower was a stronger ringgit , which gained 0.2% against the dollar, making palm oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Chicago soybean futures slid for a third consecutive session on Friday with the market poised for a second weekly decline amid pressure from a lack of Chinese buying.

* Oil prices were steady on Friday, but on track for a fall of up to 5% for the week on growing concern that fuel demand will weaken as the spread of a respiratory virus from China that has killed 25 so far dents travel and darkens the economic outlook.

MARKET NEWS

 * Stocks made a barely positive start in early Asian trade on Friday after the world's health body called it a little too early to declare a coronavirus outbreak a global emergency.

* The S&P 500 ended slightly higher and the Nasdaq eked out a record closing high on Thursday, helped by a jump in Netflix, while news about the coronavirus outbreak spreading from China and mixed earnings results kept a lid on the market.

* The euro hovered near a seven-week low against the dollar on Friday after the European Central Bank was seen as more dovish than expected, while anxiety over China's coronavirus outbreak propped up the safe-haven yen.

DATA/EVENTS

(GMT) 0815 France Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Jan 0830 Germany Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Jan 0900 EU Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Jan 0930 UK Flash Composite PMI Jan 0930 UK Flash Manufacturing PMI Jan 0930 UK Flash Services PMI Jan 1445 US Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Jan 1030 IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, British Finance Minister Sajid Javid, Governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speak in Davos on the global economic outlook