Crude palm oil futures on Malaysia’s derivatives exchange ended lower Thursday following profit-taking after yesterday’s rally, said trade participants.
The benchmark May contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended MYR25 down at MYR2,660 a metric ton, after trading in a MYR2,652-MYR2,704 range.
Some investors opted to liquidate positions to take profits as the market had already factored in many of the price outlooks from analysts during the two-day palm oil conference that ended yesterday, traders said.
However, losses were capped by record low end-month stock levels, which some participants viewed as bullish for CPO prices, they added.
Palm oil inventories totaled 1.79 million tons at the end of February, down 11% from 2.0 million tons in January, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, which released its data Wednesday.
Stocks fell more than expected to the lowest level since September 2009.
Lower soyoil futures in after-hours trade on the Chicago Board of Trade also contributed to the fall in CPO prices, said traders.
At the close of the BMD, soyoil prices for May delivery were down 21 points at 40.81 cents a pound.
In the cash market, palm olein for March was offered at $840/ton.
Cash CPO for prompt shipment was offered MYR20 lower at MYR2,700/ton.
Open interest on the BMD was 81,554 lots Thursday, up from 82,217 lots Wednesday. One lot is equivalent to 25 tons.
A total of 17,096 lots of CPO were traded versus 11,722 lots Wednesday.
Closing BMD Crude Palm Oil (CPO) futures prices in MYR/ton at 1000 GMT: Month Close Previous Change High Low Mar 2010 2,692 2,729 Down 37 2,730 2,685 Apr 2010 2,672 2,709 Down 37 2,712 2,665 May 2010 2,660 2,685 Down 25 2,704 2,652 Jun 2010 2,642 2,670 Down 28 2,690 2,635
-By Fawziah Selamat, Dow Jones Newswires; +62 21 3983 1277; fawziah.selamat@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 11, 2010 06:13 ET (11:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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