KUALA LUMPUR, April 16: Malaysian palm oil futures stayed in a narrow trading range on Tuesday and closed lower as players booked profits from a two-day rise after overnight losses in Chicago soyoil futures.
New third-month July, the market’s benchmark, ended down nine ringgit at 1,182 ($311.05) a ton.
Traders pegged immediate support at 1,177 ringgit and resistance at 1,200.
Overall volume was a thin 997 lots, down from 2,370 on Monday.
The crop and export figures were already out and the market had reacted to them. Players had nothing to trade on today apart from falling soyaoil prices, a trader said.
The market had risen on Friday on supportive crop data for March and gained further on Monday after export estimates for first-half April met trade expectations.
Traders said speculation that India might buy more palm oil to cover a shortage of edible oil stocks could limit the market’s downside.
India, the world’s largest edible oils importer, has lately become more dependent on palm oil to alleviate a shortage of oil stocks due to a slowdown in soyoil shipments from Argentina.
Despite high import taxes, palm oil had proven to be a viable solution as prices of Indian oils had also risen recently, dealers said.
In the physical palm oil market, the April contract for the southern and central regions saw offers at 1,185 ringgit a ton against bids at 1,180.
Trades were reported at 1,180 ringgit.
The May contract for both south and central saw offers at 1,190 ringgit and bids at 1,185. No deals were done.—Reuters
