August 1, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31: Malaysia’s crude palm oil futures stayed firm on Wednesday, mainly due to heavy short covering on the physical side where dealers talked about steady demand from India, the world’s largest edible oil consumer.

At the close, the benchmark third-month futures, October rose 29 ringgit at 1,502 ringgit ($395.26) a ton after trading as high as 1,504 ringgit.

Volume was heavy at 4,052 lots.

India has been in the market for a while, buying between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of oil in a single day. Pakistani and European buyers are also active, said one dealer.—Reuters