February 22, 2002	Friday	Zilhaj 9, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21: Malaysia’s palm oil futures were mostly lower on Thursday due to worries over February exports, traders said.

At the close, new benchmark third-month May futures were one ringgit lower at 1,164 ringgit ($306.32) a ton after trading as high as 1,177 — below key resistance of 1,200.

The contract touched a low of 1,157. Volume was moderate at 1,677 lots.

Production and stocks may be down, but exports don’t seem to improve. That’s the reason why the market didn’t go up, said one trader, referring to February crop data released earlier by private forecaster Ivan Wong.

Wong estimated Malaysia’s palm oil output in February at 775,000-780,000 tons, down 16.6 per cent from January, traders said on Thursday.

They said Wong forecast end-February stocks at 1.135 million tons, down some 100,000 tons from end-January. February exports were estimated at 770,000-775,000 tons, down from the official 827,454 tons in January.—Reuters