09/05/2010 (Jakarta Globe) - Palm oil futures declined last week, posting the first weekly loss in three weeks, as Europe’s debt crisis curbed investors’ risk appetite and concerns grew that the recent drop in crude oil prices may reduce demand for biodiesel.

July-delivery palm oil fell as much as 1.6 percent to 2,484 ringgit ($759) per metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange before closing at 2,519 at 6 p.m. local time Friday. The contract lost 1.5 percent of its value over the week.

US stocks Friday tumbled the most in a year, briefly erasing $1 trillion in market value, and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials slumped to a three-month low on concern that Europe’s debt crisis would spread.

Crude gained 1 percent to $77.92 a barrel after plunging 10 percent through Friday, the biggest weekly loss since July. Sime Darby Bhd., the biggest palm oil producer, fell for a fourth straight day Friday, taking the week’s losses to 2.4 percent.-Bloomberg-