December 29, 2001	Saturday	Shawwal 13, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended higher in thin volume with players adjusting to screen-based trading as the CPO exchange ended 21 years of open outcry on Saturday, traders said.

Officials at the Malaysian Derivatives Exchange (MDEX), which trades crude palm oil, said no glitches were reported.

At the close, the benchmark third-month March futures ended nine ringgit higher at 1,166 ringgit ($306.84) a ton.

Volume was slow at 460 lots, down from Thursday’s 554 lots.

Although conditions were quiet, traders said underlying sentiment was generally bullish due to anticipation of good export numbers for December and seasonal declines in production in the next three months.

Some traders said December exports could reach 950,000 tons because of steady demand from major buyers such as India and European countries.

Cargo surveyor SGS put December 1-25 exports at 804,352 tons. The surveyor is expected to release export figures for the whole of December next Monday.

Traders said exports from Indonesia were slowing down because of seasonal output declines in the second largest producer, encouraging more buyers to turn to Malaysia.

At the physical market, January crude palm oil (CPO) for southern and central regions was bid at 1,140 ringgit a ton and offered at 1,145 ringgit. Deals were reported at 1,140 ringgit for both sides.

February crude palm oil for the southern and central regions saw offers at 1,160 ringgit a tonne against bids of 1,150. There were no deals.—Reuters