11/03/2022 (The Edge Markets), Kuala Lumpur - The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended mostly lower tracking weakness in the Chicago bean oil market, said palm oil trader David Ng.

He said the bearish data by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) which reported higher-than-expected stock level weighed on sentiment.

"The market had expected stocks to be reduced by double digits but MPOB reported only a marginal decrease.

"We locate support at RM6,300 and resistance at RM7,200 per tonne," he said.

MPOB said in a statement on Thursday that Malaysia’s CPO stocks slid slightly, retreating 0.28% to 784,471 tonnes in February 2022 from 786,663 tonnes in January 2022.

At the close on Thursday, the CPO futures contract for March 2022 rose RM59 to RM7,680 per tonne and April 2022 gained RM38 to RM7,620 per tonne.

May 2022 fell RM113 to RM6,961 per tonne, June 2022 deducted RM220 to RM6,463 per tonne, July 2022 weakened RM214 to RM6,168 per tonne, and August 2022 slid RM188 to RM5,980 per tonne.

Total volume decreased to 56,978 lots from Wednesday's close of 63,077 lots, while open interest fell to 238,044 contracts from 245,005 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for March South was up by RM100 to RM7,600 a tonne.