Crude palm oil futures on Malaysia’s derivatives exchange ended lower in holiday-shortened trade Thursday, tracking declines of counterparts in other markets. Intermittent profit-taking and traders squaring off their positions ahead of the Eid holidays in Muslim countries also weighed, trade participants said.
The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended 1.1% lower at MYR2,644 a metric ton.
Benchmark May soyoil settled CNY152, or 1.8%, lower at CNY8,116 a ton at China's Dalian Commodity exchange. At the Chicago Board of Trade, December soyoil was down 46 points at 41.22 cents a pound in electronic trade at 0725 GMT.
Commodities fell across the board in China, led by natural rubber contracts. A 4.7% plunge in the most-active January natural rubber contract at the Shanghai Futures Exchange was likely the result of an official investigation into illegal bank loans used to finance derivative trade, traders and analysts said.
Market participants expect BMD Crude Palm Oil (CPO) futures to mostly hover around MYR2,630/ton-MYR2,650/ton when the market re-opens on Monday, said a trader in Singapore, adding that fresh leads from the DCE and CBOT over the next few days could tip the scales either way.
A Malaysia palm oil export estimate from cargo surveyor Intertek matched market expectations, with volume for the first 10 days of September rising 1.2% from Aug. 1-10, to 396,684 metric tons.
The estimate will have limited impact on trading, as the slight increase had already been priced in, said a trader in Kuala Lumpur. Another surveyor, SGS (Malaysia) Bhd., is expected to issue its estimate by Monday.
Investors have also factored in the results of a U.S. Department of Agriculture soyoil crop report that will be issued Friday that is expected to show an increase in soyoil stocks, putting further pressure on CBOT contracts. In the cash market, palm olein for delivery in October traded at $900-$917.50/ton and for November and December at $872.50-$880/ton, free-on-board Malaysian ports.
Cargoes for April/May/June changed hands at $860-$872.50/ton, FOB, said a Singapore-based exporter.
Open interest on the BMD was 63,658 lots, versus 65,719 lots Wednesday. One lot is equivalent to 25 tons. A total of 7,740 lots of CPO were traded versus 16,007 lots Wednesday.
Closing BMD Crude Palm Oil (CPO) futures prices in MYR/ton at 1000 GMT: Month Close Previous Change High Low Sep'10 2,782 2,785 Dn 03 2,782 2,770 Oct'10 2,700 2,719 Dn 19 2,709 2,677 Nov'10 2,644 2,674 Dn 30 2,655 2,625 Dec'10 2,623 2,655 Dn 32 2,630 2,605 Jan'11 2,622 2,654 Dn 32 2,634 2,614
-By Surabhi Choudhary, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 6415-4086; surabhi.choudhary@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 09, 2010 03:32 ET (07:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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