July 25, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14,1423

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24: Malaysia’s palm oil futures ended mixed on Wednesday, unable to sustain CBOT-driven gains as players cautiously waited for July 1-25 exports data which will provide fresh ideas about consumer demand.

At the close, the benchmark third-month futures, October, were one ringgit lower at 1,456 ringgit ($383.16) a ton after trading as low as 1,414 ringgit. Overall volume was heavy at 5,161 lots.

October had touched a high of 1,467 ringgit on gains in Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soy futures in Asian screen trade. In Alliance/CBOT/Eurex (A/C/E), front month August soy rose 1-1/4 cents to $5.77-1/4 per bushel at 1017 GMT.

It’s such an undecisive market. If exports are not supportive, there will be more room for the market to go down, said one dealer.

I don’t know what really happens here. It’s seems nobody knows which way to go. I advise people to stay on the sidelines, he added.

Traders said the market was waiting for the exports data for July 1-25 due on Thursday to see whether main buyers such as India, China and Pakistan were still slowing down their intake because of the high palm oil prices.

Separately, Indian farm minister Ajit Singh said on Wednesday the drought affecting large parts of the country was the worst in a decade as erratic monsoon rains had affected the country’s oilseeds, rice and other winter crops.

One southeast Asian trader said India would have to step up its edible oil purchases because of possible declines in local soyabean and groundnut crops.—Reuters