24.04.2020 (Yahoo Singapore News) - SINGAPORE, April 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Friday, tracking losses on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, and were headed their biggest weekly drop in six as a historic crude oil rout made them less attractive for biodiesel feedstock.

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.5% to 2,090 ringgit ($479.36) per tonne in early trade, after two straight sessions of gains.

For the week, the contract was down 6.5%, the biggest since the week ended March 13, when it fell 6.8%.

The Dalian palm oil contract fell 0.6%. Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Helping palm oil cap losses, the Chicago Board of Trade soy oil contract rose 0.23% and the ringgit fell 0.1% against the dollar.

Weakness in the ringgit, palm's currency of trade, makes the vegetable oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

FUNDAMENTALS

* U.S soybeans edged higher for a fourth consecutive session as expected Chinese purchases pushed the oilseed towards weekly gains of nearly 1%.

* Oil prices rose, gaining further ground as some producers like Kuwait said they would move to cut output swiftly to try to counter the evaporation in global demand for fuels caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian shares and U.S. stock futures fell, spurred by doubts about progress in the development of drugs to treat COVID-19 and new evidence of U.S. economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

* The S&P 500 ended marginally lower on Thursday after a report that an experimental antiviral drug for the coronavirus flopped in its first randomized clinical trial, denting optimism that the pandemic's impact on the labor market was nearing an end.

* The dollar was headed for its best week since early April, as tumbling oil prices weighed on commodity currencies and division over Europe's emergency fund dragged on the euro.

DATA/EVENTS AHEAD (GMT)

0600 UK Retail sales MM, YY March

0600 UK Retail sales ex-fuel MM March

0800 Germany Ifo Business Climate New April

0800 Germany Ifo Current Conditions New April

0800 Germany Ifo Expectations New April

1030 Russia Central bank key rate April

1230 US Durable Goods March

1400 US U Mich Sentiment Final April ($1 = 4.3600 ringgit)

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